A guide to Sherborn

sherborn library

SHERBORN LIBRARY

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A GUIDE

TO

SHERBORN

A

GUIDE

TO

SHERBORN

ANNE CARR SHAUGHNESSY
Author and Editor

Collect*

SK

Set

The 300th Anniversary Committee
Sherborn
Massachusetts

Copyright © 300th Anniversary Committee, Sherborn, Mass., 1974

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans-
mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-
copy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

PREFACE

The story and illustrations which comprise this book are not,
in the strict sense, a guide such as would be sought by a traveler
visiting Sherbom for the first time. Rather this is a piece intended
to supplement the concurrent History book of our town. Together
they reveal how beguiling Sherbom is and what part this more than
300 year old town has played in the history of our Nation about
to celebrate her 200th birthday.

Though her people are great travelers, Sherbornites are not
dismayed that the name of their town brings the question “Where
is it?”. We sing her praises quietly and care not to be world re-
nowned.

While in many ways a typical New England town, Sherbom
has an indefinable individuality and a fine sense of continuity por-
trayed in a happy blending of the present with the past. Her homes
are an example of this, both architecturally and historically, and
included here are those houses which have weathered at least 1 00
years, along with the 1 875 Atlas Map which was one of those used
in the research. The historic places and memorials will hopefully
whet the reader’s appetite for becoming thoroughly familiar with
the history which they commemorate. The old industries are the
story of individual initiative contributing to the country’s progress,
and the societies tell the tale of Sherborn’s group activities.

Delving into Sherbom ’s history has been an engaging and re-
warding study for me and I hope that the ultimate result will be
to imbue my fellow Sherborn people with an increased enthusiasm
for a knowledge of our Town’s story.

In questioning many people on times past, I received grati-
fying response and am grateful to all those who have shared their
knowledge with me. I am especially indebted to G. Farrington Fiske,
Chairman of the Tercentenary Committee, for his cooperation and
encouragement. Embroiled as he was in all the planning for the year-
long Tercentenary program, he still found time to be the greatest
participator in the preparation of the Publications.

Special thanks are also expressed to Phyllis C. McCarthy and
Roberta H. Delaney for their line drawings and map work, and to
Frances B. Forbes, Mary A. Scott and Elizabeth D. Rymer for
their sketches of the churches.

Anne Carr Shaughnessy

V

Others to whom sincere thanks are due for having contributed
in a variety of ways to the creation of this work are:

Amy T. Gheringhelli, Bertha L. Morrow, Fletcher C. Chamberlin,
Theresa I. Newman, Patricia H. Pantazi, Jessie M. Dowse, Margaret
B. Brabham, Genevieve L. Heffron, Janet M. Petty, Barbara A.

Klein, Joan P. Mott, M. Del Groner, Jane B. Ridinger, Miriam L.

Bliss, Jean V. Davis, Marion A. Gray, Elizabeth C. Price, Russell C.
Sherrill, Lee T. Sprague, Judith A. SanClements, Patricia A. Bates,
Kenneth S. Crowell, Ethel P. Gulliver, Betty Foldvari, John A.
Luczkow, Jr., Phyllis F. Lincoln, Harriet H. Tyson, Barbara D.
Whitman, Nancy B. Sortwell, Julia L. Rooney, Seth Anderson,

Frank A. Strange, Jr., Julia B. Keally, Irene M. Garland, Marge A.
Bernard, Doris V. Merrill, Mark Garbutt, Marion P. Gray, Phyllis B.
Braun, Edyth F. Johnson, Mary T. Leland, Patricia A. Hyde, Sewell
H. Fessenden, Jr., Alice Heffron, Marjorie W. Penshom, George E.
Wakeman, Grace J. Waite, Fritz Bilfinger, George Clark, Raymond L.
Clark, Natalie Dowse, Josephine Bryer, Sybil Daniels, Grace D.
Hardigan, Lois Harris, Laura A. Bolton, William Allen, Katherine
Sturgis, Betty L. Griffin, Catherine Ambos, Elizabeth M. Itse, Beverly
G. Muto, Benjamin C. Carroll, John A. Luczkow, Sr., Polly M. Gardner,
Janice Jenkins, Raymond S. Jerominek, Marion LBurns, Stanley
McDonald, Mary Cousineau, William VanBlarcom, Jr., Betty Walsh,

Dr. Theodore Wilder, William S. Towne, Jean P. Rosseau, Ellen M.
Green, Patricia A. Andringa, Willard R. Tougas, Phyllis S. Vickers.

VI

CONTENTS

Local Information 1

The Saga of Sherborn 5

Heritage of Houses 11

Area 1 15

Area 2 24

Area 3 29

Area 4 36

Area 5 40

Area 6 44

Area 7 .50

Area 8 53

Area 9 60

Area 10 65

Area 11 70

Area 12 74

Area 13 80

Area 14 86

Area 15 92

Area 16 101

Area 17 108

Area 18 114

Area 19 119

The Eames Stone 125

The W Stone 127

Merchantry and Ancient Local Industries 131

The Societies of Sherborn 159

VII

LOCAL INFORMATION

POPULATION by the local 1973 census is 3,862.

AREA 1 1,000 Acres.

HEIGHT ABOVE SEA LEVEL

Sherborn stands about 200 feet above sea level with the
hills, most especially Brush Hill, rising to 396 feet.

SITUATION

Sherborn is located eighteen miles southwest of Boston which
is easily reached by car using the Massachusetts Turnpike.

You may prefer to park your car in the ample space provided
at the Newton MBTA (Riverside) station, and hop a bus to
downtown Boston. These leave frequently during the com-
muting hours in the morning with return trips in the late
afternoon. Surface cars also leave at short intervals and travel
to and from the city through the day and evening.

OUT OF STATE TRAVEL

Logan Airport is easily reached via the Massachusetts Turn-
pike and the Southeast Expressway. Route 1 28 Station in
Dedham is a short drive from Sherborn and here you may
board a train for New York, for this is the first stop on the
Penn. Central Railroad. Greyhound buses make the River-
side Station their first stop on many western and southern
trips and the Trailways main terminal lies between Sherborn
and the Massachusetts Turnpike.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Sherborn is governed by three elected Town Fathers known
as Selectmen, as has been the case since its founding. Their
office and that of the Town Clerk, as well as the offices of
other officials, are at the Dowse Memorial Building. Office
hours are from 9 to 5 during the week and from 9 to noon
on Saturday.

1

2 Sherborn

CHURCH SERVICES

At the First Parish Church, the Sunday Service is at 10:30 in
the morning with Sunday School classes conducted at the
same hour. Evening services as announced.

At the Pilgrim Church, Sunday Morning Worship is at
10:00 with Church School held at the same time. At 7:00
in the evening, Junior and Senior Fellowships are held.

Summer hour for Sunday service is 9:00 A.M.

At St. Theresa’s Chapel, Sunday Masses are at 5:30 on
Saturday evening and at 8, 9, 10 and 1 1 on Sunday morn-
ing. Holyday Masses are on the Eve at 5 :30 and 7 :00, and
at 7:00 and 9:00 in the morning and at 6:30 in the after-
noon. Daily Masses as announced on Sunday.

SHERBORN LIBRARY

The elegant building on Sanger Street was given to the Town
in 1971 by Richard and Mary B. Saltonstall of 177 Farm Road.
There is a bookstock of approximately 22,000 volumes with
almost a third of these for juveniles. It is open during the
following hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:00
in the morning to 9:00 in the evening, and Tuesday and
Thursday from 1 : 00 to 6:00. Saturday hours change with
the season.

NEWSPAPERS

Sherborn news is covered in the daily South Middlesex News
and the weekly Dover-Sherborn Suburban Press , each of
which is delivered, as are the daily Boston papers. New York
papers are available at the Apothecary.

SHOPS

Sherborn is fortunate in having facilities providing food and
service, and in being convenient to the downtown Boston
stores and other large shopping complexes.

SPORTS AND RECREATION

All popular forms of outdoor sport and recreation are
available in Sherborn and play may be enjoyed under
ideal conditions. Numerous groups provide competition
in sailing, swimming, baseball, softball, tennis, riding,
skiing, skating and snowmobiling. The ballfield encom-

Local Information 3

passes a regular baseball field, a little league field, tennis
courts, skating pond and a toboggan run! With parking
facilities and lifeguards, Farm Pond furnishes a beautiful
place to swim or sail. The reservations and forests provide
fine trails for nature lovers in summer or winter and an
ideal place for snowshoeing or cross-country skiing.

TOWN CELEBRATIONS

On the Fourth of July, Sherborn celebrates the founding
of her country in which she played such an important part,
with a morning of sports events, an afternoon of fire engine
rides for the young of heart and, on alternate years, a
great home town parade or an evening of fireworks at the
ballfield. The town turns out for the Memorial Day parade
and services at Pine Hill Cemetery and the Memory Statue
at the Central Cemetary, where she honors her sons who
served so valiantly. At Christmastide a tradition, started
several years ago by St. Theresa’s Church, is enjoyed by the
townspeople, when the choirs of the three churches join in
caroling together, followed by the ladies of the church whose
turn it is to host the event serving a delicious tea to all
guests.

THE SAGA OF SHERBORN

The continuing Saga of Sherborn is told each year in open
Town Meeting where she still affords each person the opportunity
of open and vocal dissent. This colonial village (1652) was prac-
ticing the right of free speech and argument for worthy cause long
before the Revolutionary War, and the Sherborn Minutemen of
1774 understood well that they were fighting for what had always
been their right. Though the Town was incorporated in 1674, it
was several years before the church was erected, even though this
was the main reason given in “praying for incorporation” to the
Great and General Court.

And why?

They had plenty of lumber, for Thomas Sawin had a fine saw-
mill operating on Chestnut Brook (Course Brook) and there was
plenty of interest, for everyone felt a great need for a place of wor-
ship. However, the choice of a site for the building was a worthy
cause for argument. All but one of the earliest settlers resided in
the southern quarter of the town. They thought they had the right
to decide so important a matter as the location of the church and
naturally desired to build it near their dwellings. In fact, they had
staked out a meetinghouse lot on a hill commanding a view of the
Charles River, now believed to have been next to their cemetery
(Old South). The later colonists living on Edward’s Plain (North
Main Street) wished the church to be equidistant from the ex-
tremities of the township and, incidentally, close by their own
homes. The committee which had been chosen to “settle a min-
ister” for the colony couldn’t do so without a church at least
under way, and so, discouraged, appealed to the Court to resolve
their difficulties. Three men, appointed by the Great and General
Court, came to town and acted as present-day arbiters. They
placed the meetinghouse in the more central spot. Several years
later when a more commodious building was contemplated, the
same difficulties arose and this time the objecting “dwellers on
ye West side of Dopping Brook” were set apart from Sherborn
and incorporated as the town of Holliston in 1724. Sherborn
gracefully accepted the Court’s decision in this matter and even
returned the money which those set apart had subscribed for the
new church. Then they placed their new meetinghouse exactly be-
side the site of the first one.

5

6 Sherborn

Our town gets its name from the ancient town of Sherborne,
situated on the bank of the River Yeo, in the County of Dorset,
England. The name is of Saxon origin and means “pure water.”
When the first settlers sent their request to the General Court to
be made a town they did not suggest under what name they
wished to be incorporated. The influential John Hull, Mint-
master of the Colony, had among his extensive holdings a grant
of 500 acres in Boggestow, the Indian name for the Sherborn
area, and his land included Sewell’s Meadow and much of the
center of town. One of his ancestors, prominent in Sherborne,
England, had been appointed guardian of the minor children of
the unfortunate Sir Walter Raleigh, whose home was in Sherborne.

Sherborn was successful as a settlement because the people
who came here were Puritans who brooked no nonsense and,
perhaps, because the settlers here had learned from the errors
made by older settlements (Plymouth was founded in 1630).

She adopted her well-known “Social Compact,” an instrument
which showed great forethought and was ratified by the General
Court. The first article of this Compact provided that those re-
ceiving land from the Town were subject to its orders and must
subscribe their name to its Town Book. The second pertained to
the settlement of differences by arbitration. Article III dealt
with endeavoring to receive only honest people as settlers, and
the last stipulated that for seven years no inhabitant should sell
the land that had been granted to him by the Town, without
express permission of the Selectmen and always provided that
this should in no way hinder any heirs at common law. This Com-
pact was aimed at keeping the new settlers long enough for them
to form homes and become permanent residents, for it was be-
lieved that a man who became a part of the body politic would
then have the best interests of the settlement close to his heart.
Carpetbaggers they could do without in founding a successful,
permanent community.

When they had recovered from King Philip’s War and no
longer needed to repair to their Forts constantly in anticipation
of Indian raids, the Town exchanged lands with Natick to make
a more compactly bounded colony. They also paid the Indians
a mutually satisfactory amount for each parcel which had been
granted to them by the Court. Then at Town Meeting in 1679,
they elected their first Selectmen and settled on the administra-
tion of the internal affairs of the Town. A Selectman was ap-
pointed to teach the youth to read, write and cipher, and this
was done in different homes for some years.

The Saga of S her born 7

The first century of settlement in Massachusetts ended on a
somber note in the town of Salem with the Witch Trials, and,
though Sherborn was too busy and independent to be involved,
one of her landholders very much was. Samuel Sewell owned
considerable lands and a house (102 South Main Street) which
his wife had inherited from her father, John Hull, who had be-
come Treasurer of the Massachusetts Colony before his death.
Though the Sewells lived in Boston, Samuel writes in his diary
of Moses Adams who lived in his Sherborn house and of the
holidays he and his wife spent here with him. He became famous,
or infamous, by traveling north from Boston as one of the Jus-
tices at the Salem Witchcraft Trials. From his ownership has
come the name Sewell’s Brook which flowed through his meadow
which also still bears his name.

The genius of Longfellow in his immortal poem “Evangeline”
has familiarized everyone in America with the story of the exile
of the Acadians from their homes in Nova Scotia, and, though
most of these 7,000 French neutrals were sent to Louisiana, Sher-
born was intimately connected with that unfortunate event. In
1756, a family of seven of these people was assigned to Sherborn
and tradition has it that they were housed in the Hopestill Leland
Farm. When Marblehead petitioned the Provincial Government to
remove the Acadians they were housing, saying that they feared
these aliens would try to escape by means of the numerous vessels
in the harbor, The House voted to move all those Acadians in
coastal towns further inland, and sent a second family of five to
Sherborn. There is but one link that perpetuated this strain of
French blood in the community and that is the marriage in
1838 of Phoebe Despeau to David Leland.

In 1770, Sherborn sent a President to Harvard College in the
person of its minister, Rev. Samuel Locke, who occupied this dis-
tinguished post but three years, after which he returned to Sher-
born and opened a boys’ school at his home (8 Washington Street).
Many years after his death Harvard University erected a granite
monument to his memory at Pine Hill Cemetery.

In 1788, when the acceptance of the Federal Constitution
came up for decision, Sherborn chose Daniel Whitney to act in the
matter. They believed in self-government and had battled to se-

8 Sherborn

cure it. They also valued highly the theory of representative
government and they elected a representative to act in the matter
as well. They singled out this man of wisdom, patriotism and
integrity, and sent him to Boston to hear the arguments for and
against the question and then to make a decision in the light of
what he found. No referendum for them. “We mean not to give
you positive instruction . . . When assembling, you will have
the collective wisdom of the state before you. You will hear all
that can be said on the subject and consequently be able to form
a judicious opinion; and having the fullest confidence in your
ability, wisdom, integrity and patriotism, we cheerfully on our
part submit this important question to your decision.” That
honorable member was one of the majority to vote in favor of
this great charter of our freedom.

Sherborn started her second hundred years with 1 1 3 families,
many of whom had prospered enough to enlarge their saltbox
houses. Those who were newly establishing in the 1800s, were
building more impressive homes and starting small industries, the
most prosperous of which was the manufacturing of shoes. Other
homes were built nearby because of the jobs these factories af-
forded, and “The Plains” was soon populated enough to have its
own store.

The Holbrook Cider Mill in the south of town became known
as “the largest cider mill in the world” exporting its champagne
cider to England. P. McCarthy and Son took over the business in
1912, and its fame grew not only for its sparkling cider but its
Shawmut Beverages as well.

The willow industry flourished on Maple Street and Yankee
ingenuity caused the Fleming brothers to build their houses with
the brook running through the cellar so that the willow shoots
which they grew themselves could easily be kept the proper damp-
ness for working.

During this century, Sherborn attracted several retired sea
captains who made their homes here after exciting days spent
aboard whalers or merchant vessels. Perhaps they were captivated
by beautiful Farm Pond for here there was a steam launch plying
its waters and offering one and all a sightseeing tour for five cents.
Clovernook Grove on the shore was quite a ‘watering place’ for
people from miles around.

The Saga of Sherborn 9

The number of dwellings was just under 200 as Sherborn
started her third century, and during the next 70 years was to in-
crease that number by only 100. She had the wisdom to plan for
the residential building boom which was extending in an ever-
widening circle around the Hub, deeper and deeper into the coun-
try. The proximity of the Route 128 Business Complex and the
housing it necessitated compounded the problem for Sherborn,
so that before her three hundredth year there were better than
1,000 homes within her boundaries. Those coming here to live
liked her rural atmosphere and Sherborn works to preserve it.

SllKKllORN

Settle / SO /tot lx to the i nc7i

1874

10

HERITAGE OF HOUSES

Sherborn’s history has been written by her people living in
homes scattered over the township and imbuing their cherished
ideals in their children. These young people formed a next genera-
tion inheriting the homestead or establishing yet another one on a
section of the family’s holdings.

These homes built in the sixteen, seventeen and eighteen
hundreds, are our tangible link with those centuries. Their con-
struction in each period is cause to marvel when you realize what
tools they worked with.

Need for larger homes generally meant an addition to the
existing one. Affluence, coupled with a desire to modernize, caused
other sometimes drastic changes, but the core of our heritage is
there just waiting to be appreciated.

In their trips through New England towns where winters were
so cold, Washington and Lafayette each expressed surprise at the
general use of wood in buildings. If they implied that something
might be cozier than wood, they erred. If they were concerned
with the hazard of fire, their concern was well placed, for Sherborn
lost a great number of early homes through burning, usually in
the ‘dead of winter.’

Come, take a tour with us and study our history through the
homes, still standing, that were built more than a hundred years
ago. The present owner’s name follows each description. You will
find Historic buildings, memorials and sites also included as well as
present businesses.

Street numbers assigned by the Town and used for postal identi-
fication precede each description.

11

AREAS

1974

13

14 Sherborn

The Leland Monument

“Henry Lealand, The Puritan, Emigrated from
the W of England in the Time of The Common-
wealth, Settled in Sherburne 1660.

Erected by his grateful descendants, Aug. 18, 1847.
His piety still remembered is ample testimony
to the worth of his character.”

Area 1 75

This area can be through-
ly enjoyed without dis-
turbing any of the private
residences.

Sherborn’s main street
was laid out almost 100
years before the Revolu-
tion. The road was
smoothed and widened
for general travel in 1683,
after the Indians were sub-
dued. It became the main
post and stagecoach route
between Boston and Hart-
ford, Connecticut. The
stage made a daily trip
through Town. Commerce
on the highway changed
the face of Sherborn. By
the end of the seven-
teenth century, cider mills,
gun shops and general
stores turned Sherborn
into a thriving community
of artisans and craftsmen.

In the process of change, Sherborn stopped, in 1847, to pay
homage to its pioneer forebears. Facing the junction of Routes 16
and 27, on the church green, is the Leland Monument , dedicated
that year to one of the first settlers, the independent and purpose-
ful Henry Layland. At the time of the dedication, almost half of
the town could claim relationship with Henry.

WASHINGTON STREET

#5 — Homer Associates. Immediately next to the Leland
Monument, one of the willow weavers, George Fleming, built a
home on this imposing knoll. The house was finished in 1880,
and was a duplicate of 137 South Main Street, even to the man-
sard roof. After a fire in 1948, which destroyed the large barn on
the south side and much of the house, it was rebuilt as it now
stands. Homer Associates, comprising two separate businesses -
Homer Associates Realtors, and Homer Associates Consulting

16 Sherborn

Engineers — occupy the premises, but have retained the interior
structural beauty of the house. This is a local husband and wife
team; Bob Homer with his partner Bob Entwisle specializes in
highway, traffic, structural and environmental work. Jean
Homer, with help from Mary Chamberlin, Jean Rosseau, Sue
Peirson, Shirley Burke and Jane Brundage, makes up one of
Sherborn’s realty firms.

On the Common, and at the foot of Sanger Street on South
Main Street, are Sherborn’s three Church edifices and the time of
their services may be found under ‘Local Information’ at the front
of the book. The Town House, where the Police Station is now
situated, is open during the day, as are the businesses in the area.

The First Parish Church

The First Parish Church is the third meetinghouse to be built
on this site. It was erected in 1830, after the plan of the church
in Sutton, Massachusetts. Observe the unspoiled serenity of this

Area 1

17

building, situated on the Common where the first settlers built
their church in 1680. This was replaced by a larger edifice in
1724. With its graceful steeple and Doric pillars, this building
provides a typical example of New England church architecture
at its best.

The Good-As-New Shop is a consignment shop started by
three members of the Women’s Alliance of the First Parish Church,
in 1962. It is open, in the wing of the building, on Wednesdays
from ten to four o’clock.

The Town House

The Town House, adjacent to the Meetinghouse on the Com-
mon, is another of Sherborn’s history-rich buildings, and was built
in 1856. It housed at that time, “a spacious and elegant school-
room” as well as the Town’s first public library. The Town House
served as the center of civic affairs, and provided a place for the
many great social events, presenting an air of elegance in the
evening with its great oil-lighted chandelier. When the Board of
Selectmen and other Town officials moved their offices to the

18 Sherborn

Dowse Memorial Building, only the Police Station remained on
the first floor. The second-floor Hall is still used for many town
functions.

The Site of Unity Hall — The building which stood here was
built as a shop for a basket weaver and was bought by the First
Church as a parsonage and then as a Sunday School and social
hall. It stood behind the church on the lower level, until it was
moved away in 1959. There used to be a steep stairway down
the hillside to reach it, as it fronted on South Main Street.

Unity Hall

SOUTH MAIN STREET

#5 — This charming house was built circa 1840, and here in
the kitchen was Sherborn’s first telephone exchange, ‘manned’
by Celia Holbrook and her sister. Where the parking lot is now,
their father had a blacksmith shop, which had been Elbridge
Bickford’s before him. Behind the blacksmith shop, energetic

Area 1

19

James Salisbury had a cider mill, paint shop, and a canning fac-
tory, all of which burned on July 4, 1902, at ten in the evening.
The valiant firemen were able to save only this house. (John W.
Merrill)

Mr. Salisbury set the pattern for this small section of Sher-
born, and it has remained a lively fountain of commercial activity
A bit south of the ‘Salisbury Block’ is Sherborn Motor Sales , one
of Sherborn’s busiest enterprises, and next to this a new Chevron
Station has taken the place of the smithy. The station is built

-Tl:

20 Sherborn

on the site of ‘Jackson’s Store,’ long a town landmark where
Sherborn’s one-time Fire Chief, John Jackson, ran a sundries
store where everyone in town collected to get the news.

Jackson’s Store

Jim's Convenience Center provides myriad services to the
town as a drop-off spot for shoe or TV repair, photo work, and
dry cleaning. It also houses a gift corner of handwork from
local resident designers with antiques and modern originals com-
pleting a treasure-trove for the sightseer.

The Pilgrim Church , which was dedicated in 1830, had a
most delicate tall spire. In 1853, the building was moved more
centrally on the property and at that time was extended twenty
feet to the rear and raised ten feet, thus affording a second floor
and leaving room in front for a green. Lightning struck the steeple
in 1922, toppling it to the ground and doing much damage to the
edifice. All was soon repaired and in 1944, the rear section was
added for church-school use. Beneath the painting of Rev. Ed-
mund Dowse in the church proper is the chair which he used in
the Massachusetts Senate where he served as Chaplain for 25 years.

Area 1

21

The Pilgrim Church

The Rocking Horse School has occupied quarters in Pilgrim
Church since 1966, and is operated by Elaine A. Young and Alice
S. French as a nursery school for children from three to five years
years old.

22 Sherborn

St. Theresa’s Church

Area 1

23

#27 — “The Driscoll House’’ was planned by master builder
Bowen Adams, who built this home for himself in 1815, situating
it on a knoll, high above the dust of the daily stagecoach, but still
in view of the activities of the town. The interior of the house has
suffered little with the passage of time. The ‘parlor’ fireplace still
throws a good heat and, in the dining room, set behind a three-foot
door, are the brick bake ovens. Driscoll descendants still own this
landmark. (Mrs. William J. Rooney)

#31 — “The Hawes Place” — This magnificent gabled house
was built by Fred Leland in the 1830s. The high pitched, center
gable is relieved by a lacy, fretwork trim. This home retains the
original kitchen fireplace, with its soap-making niche on one side,
and the large iron warming oven on the other. The room is
paneled with 28-inch boards, which were originally part of the
attic floor. One room features a copper ceiling, in squares, and
another has an ornate tin ceiling. The house, which boasts six
working fireplaces, gained its name from the family who resided
there for many generations and who provided Sherborn with five
Postmasters. (Irving MacArthur)

St. Theresa’s Church — This devotional Chapel was dedicated
in September of 1924, and became a Parish in 1945, with the Pas-
tor residing at the Rectory at 24 North Main Street. The many
Masses for Sunday are on the marker on the lawn, witness to the
large Parish this small chapel now serves so well. William Collett
of Boston drew the plans for this 1898 building, which reflects
the architecture of the period. It was commissioned by the Town
to house the elderly poor, a method for their care which was even
then being phased out over New England. The Town soon was
renting it as a Parsonage. After a few years of vacancy, it was pur-
chased by the Archdiocese of Boston, and renovated for St. Ther-
esa’s Church, which is now in its fiftieth year.

#37 — This charming red house was built in the 1 820s, by
Horatio and Cally Coolidge on a corner of her brother’s land,
where St. Theresa’s Church now stands. The Flemings, who lived
here later, had twin daughters whose ‘made in Sherborn’ double
wicker cradle is on display at the Sherborn Historical Society.

A main feature of the house is the central chimney, from which
three fireplaces offer warmth and charm. The wide floorboards
have been preserved and the exterior retains its early New England
simplicity. (Francis M. Mahard, Jr.)

24 Sherborn

AREA 2

These are all private residences. Over the years, Farm Road
has been called ‘The Road to the Farm,’ ‘The Village Road to
Dover,’ and ‘Trinity Street,’ the latter because of its proximity
to the Pilgrim Church, until, in the early 1900s, it officially be-
came Farm Road. This was called the Farm District when the
town was divided into school districts, and the Farm School was
located at the northwest corner of Farm Road and Lake Street.

As you travel along Farm Road, observe the many stone walls
which the early settlers used as boundaries.

FARM ROAD

# 8 — Palemon Bickford built this sturdy home into the side
of a hill in 1859, for his brother, Elbridge Bickford, who was a
blacksmith. The doorway detail is evidence of Palemon’s crafts-
manship with its long cornice board supported by reeded pilasters
which flank the recessed sidelights. The door itself, highlighted
in bright pink, is believed to be the original. The gable ended
section with two chimneys is the original part of the house and
the four-paneled doors with their white porcelain knobs have
been restored. The hillside is terraced with stone walls. At one
time the former ‘town lock-up’ stood on the knoll in the south-
west corner. (George F. Hill)

Area 2

25

#11 — “The Goulding House” was built before 1852, for in
this year Benjamin Bullard resided here and sold part of his holding
(now 15 Farm Road) to Michael Guyrn, reserving “the right and
privilege of taking water from the well near my westerly dwelling.”
Later Henry Goulding, who was the flagman at the crossing near
his home and noted for caning chairs, bought the property for his
homestead. The original four rooms have the wide floorboards
characteristic of this period and the paneled doors have iron
latches and white porcelain knobs on the closet doors. The ceilings
are higher than is usual for the farmhouse of this period and the
windows are taller. (Merton Goulding)

#15 — “The Ramsley House. ” . .a certain tract of land

situated in Sherburne with all the buildings standing thereon near
the meeting house on the northerly side of the Road leading from
Sherburne to Dover bounded ...” Such was the introduction to
the description in the deed Michael Guryn received from Benjamin
Bullard in 1852, “in consideration of nineteen hundred and
seventy-five dollars.” By this deed, #15 and #1 1 Farm Road were
separated and it is clear that dwellings existed on each property at
this time. Bullard had acquired the combined properties in 1836,
from Nathan Grout. Many of the authentic features of this early
nineteenth century Cape Cod farmhouse have been preserved. The
modified Christian cross front door is framed with recessed five-
panel lights; many of the original wavy panes remain in the six-
over-six sashes; old latches and hinges are used throughout. The
granite block steps and foundation, narrow siding, wide pine floor-
boards, low ceilings, hand-hewn corner posts with pegs, shallow
fireplace with a crane and a dug well in the cellar are all typical of
construction of this period. The east wing was added by Michael
Guryn, who used these two rooms with separate entrance as his
cobbler shop. A number of shoe lasts dated in the 1840s have
been found in the old barn. Guryn had married Persis Anne Bul-
lard, Benjamin’s daughter, in 1840. (Alvin O. Ramsley)

#21 — This charming Cape with central chimney was built
before 1 856, facing south on a knoll which slopes gradually to
the stone wall bordering the front edge of the property. The cen-
ter entrance is enhanced on either side by full-length paned side-
lights. The door itself is four-paneled. Each of the first floor
rooms in the main part of the house has a fireplace, with a dutch
oven used for family cooking as part of the kitchen fireplace.

The small room, off the early kitchen, was known as the borning

26 Sherborn

room. There are exposed hand-hewn pegged beams and wide pine
floorboards throughout the house. (Russell Sherrill)

#25 - “Reverend Edmund Dowse House’’ was built for his
home about 1838, when he was beginning his 67-year ministry of
the Pilgrim Church. This house faces east rather than towards the

Area 2

27

road and the main entrance has a porch. Much of the glass in the
windows seems original, as it is markedly wavy and bubbled, but
the bay windows facing the street were added at a later time. Two
chimneys in the front of the house served six fireplaces, all shallow
and intended for heating rather than cooking, although there is a
small crane in the present dining-room fireplace. This room for-
merly served as Rev. Dowse’s study. In the front parlor, is a
unique exception to the simplicity of the other fireplaces, for this
one is pilastered and has elaborate moldings, panels and hand
carving in natural hardwood inlaid with a portrait of St. Jerome.

The hearth itself is tiled and the opening is bordered with decora-
tive tiles. (Stanley M. McDonald, Jr.)

# 32 — “The Potter Place ” was built before 1875, by Andrew
B. Potter. This unique little house, facing north, is nestled behind
a knoll and built into a hillside. A giant old maple shades the
front. Along the west end of the dwelling runs a stream reminis-
cent of a millstream with its sides walled with rocks to form a
- channel, that might have funneled water to a mill wheel as it
flowed in a southerly direction. (Mrs. Patricia Caldwell.)

# 35 — “Bacon House”. This stately, Colonial farmhouse was
built 1765-68, by Joseph Bacon, who had acquired part of the
Morse family holdings. Bacon, a builder who had helped to en-
large the second church in Sherborn, sold the property in 1769,
to Joseph Holbrook, the brother of the famous gunmaker, Thomas.
The center entrance doorway is adorned with pilasters on either
side. Five small bull’s-eye panes embellish the rectangular fanlight,
and the door itself has two large bull’s-eye panes. Four of the
original fireplaces have been preserved, one with a beehive oven.

The windows are set six inches deep and the inside doors are still
secured with catches. A few yards east of the farm, lies a path
which leads into one of the first roads in town, ‘the Way from the
Woods-Ware-Goulding Farms to the Meeting House.” (Walter Robb)

#64 — “Moses C. Babcock House” was built at the time of
his marriage to Persis W. Hill of Sherborn, in the late 1830s. The
house, with a center entrance, faces north. Its span roof has two
chimneys. The ell may have been a part of the original structure or
added later. This house has a certain grandeur with its four long
front windows, high ceilings, ornamental design of the pediment
above the doorway. The doorway has recessed sidelights, each
light having four panes of glass with a wooden panel below and

28 Sherborn

each edged with narrow reeded pilasters. Old carriage lights illu-
minate the doorway. In one front room is a shallow fireplace
with a crane for a copper teakettle. The present kitchen in the
ell, next the double-doored barn with its iron hinges, faces south
with a bay window looking out over the country hillside. (Dr. G.
H. Mudge)

Area 3

29

None of the homes in this area is open to the public, so
please do not disturb the residents. Farm Pond Reservation is
open’after June thirtieth for the season, with lifeguards on duty
at the swimming area. From the beach or the boat landing, a view
of this great ‘sheet of clear water’ is yours. The Sherborn Yacht
Club docks are on private property but membership is open to

30 Sherborn

any resident of the town. Parking for Little Pond Sanctuary is
afforded for a small number of cars on Farm Road near the en-
trance to the Sanctuary. Further along on Farm Road is one of
the town’s old cemeteries. Please respect this property and the
cemetery stones. Should you be fortunate enough to be in this
area as the Hunt meets, pull well off the road and enjoy the
colorful and exciting sight as they ride to hounds.

LAKE STREET AT FARM POND

Clark’s Ice House, though not standing, was an important
old business in town. It stood on Lake Street where the road
comes closest to the water. The clear ice farmed at Farm Lake

Clark’s Ice House

was in great demand from the middle of the 1800s until the
1930s. The ice house was double-walled with the space between
insulated with sawdust. The art of cutting and storing the ice
was practiced from the first of the year until the ice house was
full. Besides selling ice out of town, the Clark boys delivered
daily in Sherborn through the warm weather.

Area 3

31

Clovernook Grove could be seen across the Lake, a beehive
of activity in 1875, and was one of three groves which catered to
people from distances who came by horse and carriage to spend
the day at the grove for picnics, rides in the Steamboat ‘Atlanta’
or on sailboats which they rented. The Pavilion sold soft drinks,
candy and popcorn and had tables and benches set out under the
pines. Dances with great orchestras were here all season and
greatly patronized.

Farm Lake at Clovernook Grove 1885

Farm Pond Reservation is operated by the Town for the
safety and enjoyment of the fishermen, swimmers and sailors, and
there are benches for just plain watchers. A swimming program is
provided for all ages and lifeguards are always in attendance when
the Reservation is open. The lifeguards are often Sherborn young
men and ladies who have started their swimming career here at
Farm Pond.

Farm Pond Island is privately owned but this does not dis-
suade the Canadian geese who regularly make it their home.

32 Sherborn

Watergate on Farm Pond, 1909

FARM ROAD

Little Pond Wildlife Sanctuary consists of beautiful woods,
marshes and two ponds. Duck Pond is much smaller than Little
Pond which has more than 25 acres of water surface and affords
great sport for the fisherman in summer and through ice in winter.

Ducks, geese and other waterfowl are its greatest wildlife
specialty but the usual animals including deer and fox are there in
abundance. Its sixteen miles of trails are excellent for observation
of woodland birds and plants, and in winter are great for cross-
country skiing and snowshoeing.

Before his death in 1963, Mr. Henry Channing of Sherborn
had donated the 273 acres which form this Sanctuary, to the
Massachusetts Audubon Society.

By an Act of the Legislature provision is made for a parking
area and a right of way for pedestrians to Little Pond. This is

Area 3 33

situated on Farm Road east of the Lake Street crossing. Please
cooperate to keep this area as a ‘Sanctuary.’

#112 — This house, built in 1754, was moved in pieces to its
present site in 1938, even retaining its original floorboards and
hardware; One of the eleven fireplaces has spoolwork and
flowers carved in its panels. Part of the house was rebuilt after
the hurricane of that year with wood from Clark’s Ice House on
Lake Street. (John M. Wood, Jr.)

#137 Lake Street — is on the Farm Road corner. It was built
before 1870, and one of the two barns appears to be much older.
The roof lines are interesting against the towering trees. (Joseph
Clewes)

#1 38 — This spacious and stately home with its many ells
was built circa 1763, for Nathaniel Holbrook, junr., who married
Asenath Kendall that year. It has attracted ship Captains through
its history, for in the early 1 800s, Captain Mears resided there. It
then became the home of Capt. Amariah Leland, returning to the
town his ancestors had left in 17 10. He had a sailboat on Farm
Lake when he lived here in 1870 but he continued his long sea
voyages for many years as Captain of his barks ‘Anna,’ ‘Ellen
Dyer,’ or ‘Lancaster.’ Though additions have been made by many
owners since that time, with each change taking better advantage
of the magnificent view of the water, there still remain the lovely
old fireplaces, mantels and gracious stairway to remind us of the
past. (William G. Anderson)

#156 — This house, built before 1870, has the old wide pine-
board floors throughout. Originally an eight-room farmhouse,
there were two large additions made in the late twenties — a kit-
chen and a ballroom — but the windows and old front door of
the main part of the house are still in use. (James M. Potts)

#157 — (<The Converse Bigelow House” with its large barn was
built in 1788 and was inherited by his son Amos. The old house
has changed hands quite often and has been remodeled and added
onto. (Richard Saltonstall)

#167 — “ The Russell House” was built in 1720 for Samuel
Morse, grandson of the original settler. At first quite small, it
was enlarged by the Russell family who owned it for a hundred
years. At the turn of the century, Hayden Channing lived here
while he ran the farm across the way for his father, and it was he

34 Sherborn

who added the ell onto the back of the house and restored the
barn. (Richard Saltonstall)

#7 77 — “Charlescote Farm. ” This Federal style home was
built in 1759 for Joshua Morse, replacing the Fort which had been
built by his ancestor for protection during the Indian wars. Beauti-
fully preserved with four fireplaces angled on the central chimney,
it has the original stairway gracing the entrance hall. Albert P. Morse
was of the last generation of his family to reside here and in 1902,

Dr. Channing purchased the property. He added the dormers, the
north wing and a porte - cochere. The latter was removed by the pres-
ent owners in the twenties. (Richard Saltonstall)

Old Farm Road Bridge

#210 — “The Old Saltbox” was built in 1670, by Daniel Morse
junr., whose father had purchased this land in the 800-acre property
he acquired from the Bradstreet Grant in 1656. This lovely old
house and barn are being restored by the present owners. (Harold
M. Brabham)

The Farm Cemetery — Nestled amongst the pines and within
eyeshot of the Charles River, is the second oldest graveyard in the
town, with gravestones dating back to 1688. It really had been
the burial place for the Morse family and, in 1887, the Leonard
Morse Estate gave it to the Town. It is maintained as an Historic
Spot.

Area 3 35

Farm Road Bridge — In 1886, Sherborn voted to build a Truss
Bridge with the Town of Dover. This old bridge was built in two
sections, since there was a small island in the middle of the Charles
River then. There was a big bridge from Dover to the island and
then a small ten to fifteen-foot bridge from the island to the
Sherborn shore. In 1934, when a bridge was to be built to re-
place these two sections, there was a dreadful hassle as State,
County and local officials were involved. Sherborn Selectmen,
after vigorous negotiations, were able to persuade the authorities
to rebuild the bridge in its original place, removing the small
island in the process and retaining the curve in Farm Road.

36 Sherborn

AREA 4

South Main Street
has always been the only
direct road from Sher-
born to Medfield and, as
a result, has a number of
old homes on either side.
These are not open to
the public, but with a
knowledge of their history
and a little imagination,
these houses can be of
great interest.

SOUTH MAIN STREET

The Pound is situated just over the top of Pound Hill and
in front of #52, as you head south from Sherborn Center. It was
constructed in 1770, by Capt. Sanger with the following specifica-
tions — “to be six feet high, three feet thick at the bottom and
eighteen inches thick at the top, to face the inside, and he to have
six pounds if he finish it within one month from this time.” The
newlywed of the community was appointed the ‘Hog Reeve’ and
was responsible for keeping stray animals in line.

#(57 — Built in 1738, by Ezra Holbrook, this house was lived
in by three generations of that family before being sold in the early
1800s, to Dalton Goulding, a surveyor. The present owner bought
it from Arthur Wright in the 1920s and has added extensively to
the original structure. This spacious dormered Cape Cod with its
adjoining ells sits behind a white picket fence capping the low
fieldstone wall. (Mrs. George M. Barakat)

Area 4

37

Town Pound

#91 — Thomas Holbrook, a Revolutionary War gunsmith,
built this house in 1780, or perhaps earlier. It originally stood on
the land now occupied by St. Theresa’s Church, and was for many
years the home of Curtis Coolidge. Patrick McCarthy purchased
the house and moved it to this site in 1895, and the move cost
only SI 20! It remained a McCarthy homestead for nearly 50
years. The house has been enlarged, while retaining the lines and
features of a Cape Cod, both inside and out. (Robert W. Buntin)

#96 — Originally a small, one story plus attic, saltbox facing
south, this house was built between 1760 and 1770, possibly by or
for John Ware. It was eventually bought by James Bickford, who
added a story and a door facing the road. Mr. Levine acquired it
and used it for sorting and barreling his crop of cranberries. By
1945, in a state of deterioration, it was bought and restored by
Charles Channing, who moved it a bit south on its foundation.

The original south door remains, as does the staircase built against
the chimney. The wing, added in 1962, contributes to the
colonial charm of this fine Cape Cod home. (Howard J. Barnet)

#102 — This land was originally a grant to Hull, the colonial
Mint Master. The house is one of Sherborn’s oldest dwellings,
built between 1692 and 1703, probably by Judge Samuel Sewell,
as a house for his tenant farmer, one Adams. In 1734, the house,

38 Sherborn

barn, and 200 acres were sold by Judge Sewell’s daughter, Judith
Cooper, to Capt. John Ware, for £750 (about $4,000). The well-
known Rev. Henry Ware was born here in 1789. Thomas Colford
bought the house in 1856, and altered the roof-line from its
original saltbox with rear roof coming to within five feet of the
ground, to the present gable-ended roof. The center chimney has
a very steep, narrow, enclosed staircase winding up the front.
(Robert Selfe)

Area 4

39

#109 — The main part of this house was built before 1800,
by Bray ton Bullard, Sr., as an ell on the house at #1 13. Prior to
1875, it was sold to John Goulding and moved across the road.

Two rear wings were added, making it into a double house. In
1884, John Jackson came from England and bought this house,
#113, and acreage up and down Goulding St. John F. McElhenney,
from Medfield, acquired it in 1908, and it remains in that family.
There is an unusual divided staircase in the center hall. (Louis
J. O’Neill)

#113 — “Ware Tavern” was built shortly after the Revolution
by Eleazer Ware, and used as a ‘half-way’ house, for some years.

A large room, stretching the width of the second story, was used
as a ballroom, and about 1830, when Sherborn was for a year or
two without a Town Hall, it is said that the Town Meetings were
held in this room. Bought by Brayton Bullard, Sr., in 1830, his
son sold the ell (now #109) to John Goulding, and added a much
smaller one. The house was in the Jackson family before Fred
McFarland owned it and enlarged the ell, which was again extended
in 1958. (Daniel R. Sortwell)

GOULDING STREET

In the late 1 600s, this was a narrow lane leading to the saw-
mill, which was owned and operated by Joseph Ware. The
foundation stones of the mill can be found across from #43.

Later this road was known as the road to Dover.

#43 — The barn on this property was built in 1690, and was
part of the old sawmill across the road on Sewell’s brook. The
front part of the house, built about 1710, by Daniel Morse, is one
of the few houses facing north. Known as a half-house, it was
sold to Joseph Ware, and in 1868, Thomas Burke came from Cam-
bridge and acquired the property. The present owner is Mr.

Burke’s granddaughter. There are massive beams in the attic and
tree-shaped stringers in the cellar. (Mrs. Newman Dearth)

#51 — Thomas Burke sold a few acres on the west side of his
property to Asher Ware who built this farmhouse in 1 880. It was
bought by Patrick McCarthy in the early 1900s and remains in
that family. (Mrs. Annie M. McCarthy)

40 Sherborn

AREA 5

In this area is the site of
the home of the first set-
tler, Nicholas Wood, and
of The World’s Largest
Cider Mill.’ Please respect
the grounds and stones as
you enjoy the ‘New South
Cemetery.’ All homes in
this area are private but
Williams Perennial Gar-
dens is a great place to
browse.

FOREST STREET

#42 — This house was built by Vernal Barber sometime be-
fore 1 870, perhaps for one of his children, as it is referred to as
his ‘new house’ in Town records of that period. (Mrs. Robert L.
Benedict)

#46 — (<The Morse-Barber House. ” In 1671, Captain Joseph
Morse, a young farmer from Med field, married sixteen-year-old
Mehitabel Wood, daughter of Nicholas Wood, one of our first
settlers. On part of her father’s farm “22 rods south of his house”
the young couple built their home. The house served as a
Meetinghouse until the first church was completed. Morse was
recompensed for this service. In 1753, Elisha Barber bought the
house and it remained in his family for 150 years. It was re-
modeled in 1814, but with special care to preserve its original
appearance, its low ceilings (all of the rooms are only a bit over
six feet in height), its pitched roof in front and gambrel roof in
the rear. The barn on this property was featured in the opening
scene of Jean Shepherd’s program, “America.” (Walter Gregg)

#51 — Holbrook Cider Mill, later P. McCarthy & Son Cider
Mill site: With only these buildings left of the “World’s

Area 5 41

Largest Cider Mill,’ which shipped Champagne Cider to England
during the last century, it is hard to visualize the great activity
that once went on here. It was the first road the Town voted to
widen “to take care of the exceeding amount of traffic at the
mill.” (Bernardi Bros.)

#66 — This house, built circa 1875, is ideally situated for an
artist’s studio and a large one has been incorporated to take ad-
vantage of the northern light. When Shell Oil Company was going
through the negotiations necessary to installing a pipeline through
Sherborn, they owned this house briefly and used it as an office.
(Carl Pickhardt)

#69 - “The Jonathan Holbrook House, ” thought by many
researchers to be the oldest house in Sherborn, was built about
1690, by John Holbrook on land his wife inherited from her
father. His wife, granddaughter of Nicholas Wood, was Silence
Wood, born in the Bullard Fort during an Indian Raid in 1676.
The original site of the house was several yards from the present
location. The home is in excellent condition with most of the
original paneling, beams and flooring carefully preserved. A pew
from an old Sherborn church is used as a bench near the splendid

42 Sherborn

fireplace. This house has always been owned by descendants of
the Holbrooks. (Burlen Mahn)

“ Nicholas Wood House Site. ” The first recorded house in
Sherborn was 22 rods north of what is now #46. A hollow mound
is all there is to see of this house that was built on the land pur-
chased from the Parker Grant by Nicholas Wood, Thomas Hol-
brook, and Andrew Pritcher in 1652. Wood built his house on
the banks of Sewell stream. His will mentions “the brook that
runneth by my house.”

SOUTH MAIN STREET

#136 — “The Prentiss House” was built by Nathaniel Pren-
tiss, a Cambridge tailor who came to Sherborn to marry Abigail
Ware. In 1745, they chose this piece of her father’s property for
their home site and their son Stephen inherited the homestead.
The Barber family came into possession in 1846, when Vernal

Area 5

43

the elder bought it. His grandson, Milo Frank Campbell, was fire
warden for the southern end of Sherborn. Charles E. McCarthy,
Sr., bought the property in 1920 and restored it, but subsequent
owners remodeled it. This large red house is situated on top of a
hill. The pond on the property was a popular skating spot for
neighborhood youngsters. (Mrs. Jean Downs)

#137 — “The Charles Holbrook House” was situated well
back from the road in 1870, and was a show place. It featured
hand-done imported tapestry panels set into the walls. (Malcolm
Gillis)

#141 — “The Larkin Place” was built in 1850, for the Larkin
family and later bought by Milo Campbell. His store for farm
machinery was moved here when he sold the big house across the.
street to Mr. McCarthy. At one time Mrs. Larkin kept a store here
and sold delicious bread. (Elmer Nordfeldt)

New South Cemetery — Joseph Daniels of 2 Snow Street
deeded to the Town a plot of land to be used for a cemetery in
1790. Many of his descendants are buried here.

#156 — Further south on a part of old Main Street is a small
house which was built as a blacksmith shop in 1788, by James Hol-
brook. In 1820, it was converted into a house and later occupied
by Mr. Nelson who was a beloved school barge driver. It has been
tastefully restored by the present owner. (Mrs. P. J. Ham)

#1 63 — “The Farm, ” which was built circa 1881, was bought
and first run as a farm by the present owners. They cured hams,
churned butter and made maple syrup from the trees lining the
drive. Flowers, their real interest, filled their fields and a green-
house was soon built. The family business of growing plants for
sale evolved a few years later and was incorporated as Williams
Perennial Gardens, Inc. Today everything for a home gardener and
flower arranger is available in their shop. (Ralph A. Williams)

44 Sherborn

AREA 6

This southern part of Sherborn is where the first settlers
landed when they crossed the Charles River from Med field to
start a new plantation. Here is the site of the Fort where they
successfully held off the attacking Indians, the cemetery where
they buried their first dead, and the site near it which they had
marked out to erect their first house of worship. Please respect
the ancient stones in our oldest cemetery and enjoy this historic
area without disturbing the residents of these homes, which are
all private.

SNOW STREET

#2 — This lovely square colonial with its several additions
has been restored to bring back the charm, simplicity and warmth
of the era in which it was built. Joseph Coolidge was the builder
in 1780, on part of the original Leland holdings which he pur-
chased from Henry’s descendant, Col. Joshua Leland. Joseph
moved the little old Leland Homestead into the dooryard and
during the construction of their home, he and his bride, Martha
Daniels, resided in it. The ancient house remained on this spot
for more than a hundred years, and was here for the barn-raising
party, one of the last which the Town enjoyed. When Timothy
Daniels acquired the property from the Coolidges, it was still in
the family, of course, and both families had Leland ancestors as
well! (Franklin King, Jr.)

Area 6

45

The second Leland House, moved north to dooryard
of 2 Snow Street in 1780

SOUTH MAIN STREET

South School — The foundation of this district school can
be seen on the lot opposite and south of Snow Street. After 1910,
the children were barged to the Center School.

# 220 “The Joshua Leland House” was built prior to 1800 and
faces south. It sits on the west side of the road to Medfield with
its large barn and has been tastefully restored. (Harris A. Garland)

Old South Cemetery is Sherborn’s most ancient burying
ground. There is about it the same quiet simplicity that must
have been present when Hopestill Leland was the first person
buried here in 1655. Facing the walled entrance and backed by
whispering pines is the Memorial Boulder inscribed on its inset
bronze plaque, “The Most Ancient Burying Ground, On the West
Bank of the Charles River, Established by the Settlers of the
Boggestowe Farms before 1 660. Here rest from their labors The
Founders of Sherborn, Holliston, Medway. Erected by the His-

46 Sherborn

torical Societies of The Three Towns, 1915.” Headstones were
often not placed on graves in the early years of the settlement
to keep the knowledge of their losses from the Indians. This
fact, the ravages of time and other circumstances result in there
not being many of the earliest stones extant here, but there are
several of the ‘Memorable Mortality’ of 1754.

Old South Cemetery Memorial Boulder

#258 - The Holbrook-Death House ” was built in 1776, for
Henry Death on the site of the house built by the first settler,
Thomas Holbrook. One parcel of the Holbrook holdings was the

Area 6

47

only Grant made directly to a Sherborn settler by the General
Court. In the oldest part of this house is a small bricked room be-
hind the fireplaces, entered through a stair-riser, which tradition
says was part of the underground railroad route which utilized the
Charles River. In 1925, this place was remodeled for the Teachers
Federation, whose members used it for a vacation resort for some
years, when it became widely known as ‘Riverbank Lodge.’ It
has since been tastefully restored. (Dayid C. Forbes)

Old Death Bridge

Death’s Bridge is a 1965 construction by the Commonwealth
and replaced the bridge which stood a short distance up the river.
The original Death’s Bridge was the spot that King Philip chose to
pin his famous note after the attack on Bullard’s Fort at the begin-
ning of the Indian War, “Will war 2 1 years if you will, the Indians
loose nothing but their lives. You must loose your fair houses and
and cattle.” That bridge had been built by the settlers and their
friends in Medfield sometime between 1652 and 1676, and was
kept in repair and not completely rebuilt until 1915. At that time
a plaque commemorating the historic spot was made a part of
the bridge, and the old fieldstone abutments, which are all that
remain, are visible from the present bridge.

BULLARD STREET

#26 - Located in the open, sweeping farm area still existing
today much as it did when Samuel Hill built his homestead here in

48 Sherborn

1791, this lovely center chimney farmhouse bears witness to its
antiquity with gunstock beams on the lower floor. It was a Rich-
ards farm in 1890, and Esther Richards and her brother, Augustus,
attended the school on South Main Street, and walked to Sawin
Academy. He became renowned as a partner of Charles Evans
Hughes and she was the famed psychiatrist practicing and teach-
ing at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. (Henry M. Bliss)

#63 — “ The Mary Lizzie Ware House” was built by her grand-
father, Alpheus Ware, in 1 800. In this beautifully appointed square

Area 6

49

colonial, the present dining room served as the kitchen when it
was the Ware place, and is about all of the antiquity that remains.
(Dr. John D. Constable)

Bullard’s Fort Site is on the sloping land between Boggestow
Pond and the Charles River and here the first settlers took refuge
at the slightest alarm of an Indian raid. Benjamin Bullard and
eight of his neighbors constructed the Fort in a superior manner,
like a regular fortress. Two stories high and with double rows of
portholes on all four sides, it was built of field stones brought
from a quarry about a mile away. White oak planking was used
for lining and provided roofing for this 70-foot-long historically
fascinating structure which so successfully withstood the attacking
Indians. There has been much interest in this site and it was
during the 1940s that Harvard University, while doing a geological
survey here, unearthed early colonial utensils.

Bullard Fort

50 S her born

AREA 7

There are no buildings
open to the public in this
part of town but the coun-
try certainly is. Please do
not disturb the residents.

At the foot of Cross Street,
do stop and gaze out
across the meadows dip-
ping into the valley and
see the most beautiful New
England landscape. In
spring the old orchard is
abloom and so are the
flowering crab across the
swale. In summer the
cows on the hillside, with
Swiss bells around their necks ringing out the different tones as
they graze, make you think you might be in the lower Alps. The
trees in fall display an unbelievable array of color and winter finds
the hills alive with sleds and toboggans as each generation re-
discovers how great this valley is for coasting.

WOODLAND STREET

# 104 — “Woodland Farm ” was part of the Hopestill Leland
settlement and the main house was built by Hopestill Leland, jun.,
who married Mary Bullard, February 24, 1702. Their son, Daniel,
“inherited his father’s place s.w. of Sewell’s meadow.” Daniel’s
twin sons, Moses and Aaron, were inseparable in their youth and
had their homes next to each other when they married. Moses
inherited the east part of his father’s holdings which included this
farm. The date of early 1700, for the main house, was verified by
Architect Edward Goodell of Wayland when he restored some of
the old features. The detached carriage house and small milk house
are still standing and the main house has the large center chimney
of the true colonial, with one of its fireplaces in the paneled library
on the west side of the entrance. (Fritz W. Bilfinger)

#114 — This home of delightful modem architecture is not
one of our old houses but it is on this hill that the twin, Aaron, who
inherited the west half of the Hopestill Leland holdings, built his
home. It burned in the late 1800s but the foundation of this

Area 7 51

Revolutionary house is being transformed into a sunken garden by
the present owner. (Robert C. Delaney)

#144 — Between where Apple Street exits and Greenwood
Street enters Woodland Street, stands the Hodge House, a comfort-
able farmhouse of the mid-nineteenth century with a curved and
pillared porch added in more recent years. Its large red barn is
surmounted by a windowed cupola from which Mr. Hodge could
see where his cattle had roamed when he wanted to fetch them
home in the afternoon. (Domenic Furino)

APPLE STREET

#8 — A grandson of the twin Moses who lived at “Woodland
Farm” at 104 Woodland Street chose this knoll to place his home
in the 1840s. Of the house, all that remains of the 1911 fire is the
granite doorstep just north of the bam, but the picturesque bam
stands and is ‘motif number One’ of Sherborn. Augustus H. Leland
built it well with tenon and mortise, hand-hewn beams and pegs,
a neat hayloft and even a leanto, large enough for two carriages.

52 Sherborn

It appears that the boards he used may have been green, for day-
light shows clearly between most of them and they were originally
strapped, but it was just this spacing that let the old barn weather
the big blows which turned others into kindling. (Mrs. Amalia
Gheringhelli)

GREENWOOD STREET

This narrow woods road was once part of the Post Road, for
coming up Washington Street from town, the coach turned onto
Greenwood Street, thence across Ash Lane to Hollis Street, and
joined Washington Street beyond what is now the Holliston line.
They wouldn’t consider trying to build a roadway across the mar-
shy lands of Dirty Meadow then, but sensibly detoured around it.

#78 — Patrick Heffron came from Hopkinton in 1896, and
built his homestead on this southerly slope. Here the Rev. Edward
J. Riley made his residence when he came as the first Pastor of
St. Theresa’s Chapel, until he purchased the Rectory on North
Main Street. Here, too, one of the first nursery schools in town
was run by Miss Alice Heffron preparing young ones for the rigors
of the classroom. (E. Alice Heffron)

WASHINGTON STREET

#110 — “ The Greenwood House” was built in 1821, by the
master builder of the era, Ebenezer Mann, and into it he put his
finest woodwork in the two mantelpieces which took two men
four weeks to complete. Aaron, who inherited the house from
his father, had no children and left his estate to his church, the
Town Library and the Widows’ and Orphans’ Society. In 1913,
extensive remodeling was done, and here is a fine example of a
spacious country dwelling, secluded behind a six-foot high stone
wall. (Robert J. Cronin)

#102 — “ The Eames Place” was built by Jonas Greenwood
when he moved his family up the hill in 1765, and here the
engine from the Farm Pond Steamship ‘Atlanta’ was set up to
grind apples for Jonathan Eames, Jr., who had also inherited a
large orchard. The extensive red barn with cupola has a small
barn or ell attached where apples were sorted and stored when
this was Russet Hill Farm. The house is a well-proportioned,
center entrance colonial with other outbuildings clustered near it.
The fireplace walls in both living and dining rooms, paneled to the
ceiling, speak of the craftsmanship of the builder. (Kevit R. Cook)

Area 8

53

AREA 8

/

This area is all private
farmland but it affords a
delightful triangular walk.
Please do not disturb the
residents.

As you approach on Mill
Street, before you in the
fork of Mill Street and
Nason Hill Road is one of
the last water storage
towers in Sherborn. The
base of the tower is of
stone and it sits on an out-
cropping of ledge on Na-
son Hill. This provided
the Stannox Farm build-
ings with gravity-fed water
pressure and is a pictur-
esque part of the past.

The Stannocks region in
southwest Sherborn con-
tained twelve original homesteads and 1200 acres. The word, stan-
nocks, came from the Nipmuck Indian word denoting their houses
and it was in this fertile area that the tribe chose to live. The name
was first applied in a derisive way during a school argument con-
cerning the division of districts, but it came to be proudly espoused.

NASON HILL ROAD

#11 — “ Stannox Farm” was one of three homesteads which
evolved from the Grant to Captain Kayne. In 1703, the original
house burned, and sometime before 1750, the present house was
built as a saltbox with a center chimney, which has a smokehouse
built into it. You can easily stand up in this room, and runaway
slaves hid here, according to legend. At a later date the roof was
raised and ells added. In the middle 1700s, John and Sarah Fisk
lived here and their daughter Abigail, who married Captain Samuel
Learned, inherited. Frank Daniels, the historian, resided here with
his family until 1908, when it became a summer home for different
owners who employed resident managers. The present barn is a
nineteenth-century building. Since 1961 Stannox Farm has been
farmed as it was in the 1700s and 1800s by resident owners.

54 Sherborn

Water Tower

#36 — “Red Gate Farm ” was the home of Nason Hill, from
whom the road takes its name. His father bought this place about
1792, as that was when he married Abial Nason, and no one mar-
ried then unless he had a house at hand or being built, for houses
were scarce. The previous owner, Jonas Fisk, had married Mary
Hill, a distant relative of James Hill, and built the house around
1765. His brother John married Mary’s sister, Sarah, and built the
house at Stannox Farm.

The two properties abutted, and before additions and altera-
tions the houses resembled each other closely and the families had
a close association. The teachers at the Stannocks School often
boarded here, paying Mr. Hill a dollar a week.

This old house is typical, with a large central chimney, two
large front parlors (facing south) and a long room behind them on
the north, with little rooms at either side. The house remains
basically the same, although some of the deepset windows have
been replaced, but the inside frames are the originals. The front

Area 8

55

room fireplaces are closed with iron fireboards and brass ornaments.

There are entrances along the street to bridle paths through
the woods, and extensive trails exist behind the houses on both
sides of Nason Hill, Hollis and Mill Streets. In the fall the Hunt
makes a colorful sight following the hounds through the brilliant
foliage. (John W. Peirce)

HOLLIS STREET

# 23 — “ The Baruch Leland House” was built in 1750, and
against this one-and-a-half story saltbox was built a substantial
gable ended house in 1817, with the oval gilt-figured tableau of
the period over the entrance. Dexter Cozzens added a barn after
he purchased the place in 1836, and only this barn and out-
buildings were saved in January 1915, when a chimney fire
spread to the woodwork and consumed the house. This fine
old barn was enlarged in 1910, and ties the home built shortly
thereafter, to the past. When Walter Leland, born in 1787,
lived here and his brother Lemuel lived in the Old Red House,
they quarreled bitterly and Lemuel would not allow Walter to
cross a small portion of his land which stretched across the en-
trance. At Town Meeting the argument was settled by making
the driveway a public way, and so it remained until this century,
when it was released to W. H. Burlen who then owned the place.
(Edward H. Tuton)

56 Sherborn

Courtesy Stacy Holmes Norfolk Hunt at Sherborn

Area 8

57

#24 — When this was the Nash place, it stood several yards
north and in front of #28. William MacAlpine bought this acreage
and moved the house to its present site for his home in 1948.
(Harold Kramer)

#27 — “The Old Red House” was built by Deacon William Le-
land in 1717, and was one of the houses referred to by an observer
of more than a hundred years ago when he described the houses
in the Stannocks district as “ . . . built of wood of the country,
not following the English fashion but creating a style of architec-

58 Sherborn

ture of their own — rude, primitive, with an individuality and
dignity . . Such is this house, which was occupied by Leland
families for many generations. Later, Moses Burlen, who married
China Ware, made it his home. Even today, description of its
interior can be expressed almost exactly in the words of the afore-
mentioned observer “. . .while there is no fine work in the old
house, there is much quaintness, notably the absence of mantel
pieces. The place is replete with chimney cupboards above the
fireplace and beside it. The north room has three hooks im-
bedded at intervals in the ceiling before the fireplace. The stair-
case very crude and narrow.” (G. Farrington Fiske)

# 28 — “The Benjamin and William House ” had this building for
its barn. It was converted to a home in 1926. The Nash Cottage
was moved from its front lawn and the present owner has renovated
and added a touch of colonial formality to the entrance by adding
pilasters and dentils. (Mrs. Barbara D. Whitman)

MILL STREET

# 1 18 — “Hopestill Farm” stands on the western comer of the
junction of Hollis and Mill Streets. The present house is a replica
of the original which burned in 1939. However, it employs colo-
nial dimensions so authentically that it is usually mistaken for
the original. Some of the timbers were saved and used in the big
barn which was also consumed by fire in 1968. The first house
was built in 1810 by James and Samuel Leland who were born
and grew up in the “Old Red House” on Hollis Street. This prop-
erty is significant because it has been in the same family since
1654. Henry Leland died in 1680 leaving vast amounts of land

Leland’s Mill

Area 8

59

to his descendants in various parts of town. The late James F.
Leland, who died in 1973, was the ninth generation to hold this
property. (Mrs. James F. Leland)

The Saw Mill Site — From Hopestill Farm diagonally across
the corner is Brown Meadow and as you proceed down Mill Street,
you will pass over Brown Meadow Brook which comes from the
quiet Mill Pond on the left side of the street. It was here that the
first James Leland built a saw mill which was operated by three
generations of James Lelands who gained their power from the
water rushing through the sluiceway of the dam. When the mill
burned in 1920, it was replaced by an electrically powered one in
another location, but the road is still Mill Street and Mill Pond
is still great for skating.

60 Sherborn

With the exception of Stongate Farm Stand, none of the
buildings in this area is open to the public, but there is much to
enjoy.

This part of the town is the early West Sherborn and has con-
tinued its family farming character longer than the rest of the town.

HOLLIS STREET

#128 — This lovely and very typical large New England farm-
house was built by Addington Gardner when he settled in Sherborn
in the early 1730s. It has a large, central chimney and fireplace
and, like many other early houses, sensibly faces the warming win-
ter sun rather than the road. The ell at the rear was added at a
later date, and has one of the town’s few remaining attached car-
riage sheds, the eighteenth century version of the two-car garage.
Four more generations of Gardners farmed the land until 1911,
when it was sold out of the family. It was bought by Ward J.

Parks, who held numerous town offices while he maintained a
dairy farm. Until recently his big barn with its haymows and
horse stalls stood across the street. (Frank Mott)

#133 — Addington Gardner’s great, great granddaughter,

Delia Gardner, married Alfred Leland and built this house facing
the end of Western Avenue, in 1845, on part of the old farm.

Delia’s father offered her 24 acres at either end of his property.

This is the spot she chose, and she and Alfred built their farm-
house in three stages with the most recent nearest the road. They

Area 9

61

chose the ‘Greek Revival’ style of architecture most popular at
that time with its rectangular plan and temple facade of triangular
pediment and side pilasters. The side panes beside the front door
must have made it easy to keep track of traffic on the Post Road.
(Richard L. Marchand)

WESTERN AVENUE

Until recently Western Avenue was a shady tunnel under
towering elm trees, but other trees are gradually taking their place.
On either side of the Avenue, farmers mixed crops and dairy be-
cause of the claylike soil in the area.

# 320 — Captain Caleb Leland’s son, John, inherited this
home that his grandfather had built at the time of his marriage
in 1708. After John’s marriage to Caroline Jones in 1783, the
place became known as the “ Jones Leland Home. ” The old barn
stood to the north of the ell, which has gunstock corner posts and
adze-fashioned exposed beams. In this home are six fireplaces
whose double chimneys are supported by a ship’s keel! It is a fine
example of a hip-roof colonial with a fanlight and sidelights at the
center entrance. On the lawn the old well sweep still reigns.

(Mrs. Jacques Leek)

62 Sherborn

# 282 — Another modest farmhouse, this was built around
1820 by Royal Stone. That the farm was originally part of the
Morse-Tay holding with its homestead next door is evidenced by
the roughly pie-shaped stonewalled fields with the points at the
location of the Morse barn, a Yankee practice which made it easy
to switch-gate the cows into any of several fields right at the barn-
yard paddock. The two properties may well have been divided at
the time of Stone’s marriage to Sally Tay. The modest interior is
typical, with wainscoting to chair height but of barely smoothed
horizontal boards, and birdseye maple floors that change to rough
pine planking at rug edge. The ell may be older with its wider
pumpkin pine boards and beveled outer wall sheathing. There is
framing for a seven-foot kitchen hearth and a ten-foot square chim-
ney. A unique feature of the ell is its nine doors opening out of the
keeping room. Two of the doors to the outside line up in such a
way that a horse could be driven all the way through to deliver the
fireplace backlog.

All of the old houses had moderate to large barns. As in the
houses, the beams were adze-shaped and sturdily pegged together
with treenails. As family farming declined, so did the bams. Each
barn had a typical plan of haywagon door into the central bay,
floor-to-ceiling haymow on one side, two stories on the other side
for hay above and cows and horses below. The crawlway under
the main floor was for the pigs. (Robert P. Johnson)

# 266 — Captain Joseph Morse held large tracts in West Sher-
born which he divided between his two oldest sons. James Morse
built here about 1700. In the 1770s, Dr. Jonathan Tay settled
here as the town physician dispensing cures to local residents.

Brook Street was long known as Dr. Tay’s Lane, and the home
has been owned continuously by his descendants.

The chimney supports four fireplaces and a dutch oven.

There is an attached shed but the barn, which stood quite a way
northwest of the house, is gone. It was a large barn with an at-
tached cowshed and full cellar with a cider press and large vat
for making apple butter. The graceful fanlight and dentilled pedi-
ment over the east door of the house and additional square lights
and pediment over the south door, tiny dentils above the twelve
over eight upper windows and the heart-shaped motif on inside
shutters all suggest that this was built for someone with means,
grace and social prominence. This is one of the very few three-
quarter houses in the town. Diagonal beams from the corners to
the summer beams are features unique to this early period and are
evident here. (Miss Sylvia Hawes)

Area 9

63

# 255 — “Micah Leland House ” was built by Captain Eben
Mann in 1 824, one of a number of houses which he built in Sher-
born. It has twin chimneys and was built with a hip roof. The
roof line was radically changed several times and most recently
when the house was remodeled in 1944. (Carleton C. Comins)

WASHINGTON STREET

#215 — At the junction of Woodland and Washington Streets
lived Charles Champney, a currier, with his leather-working shop
nearby. He built his home, quite a small place, before 1820, but

64 Sherborn

it has been extensively added to over the years. It still has a brick
Dutch oven in the L-shaped cellar, 36-inch-wide attic floorboards
and pumpkin pine sheathing. (Robert W. Brooks)

# 237 — The corners of Western Avenue and Washington Street
have had small business ventures since about 1915. Where Ston-
gate Farm is now, was a miniature golf course, then the rage, and a
small gas station and farm stand to attract tourists out for a drive
in their Model T’s. On the opposite corner stood a competing two-
pump gas station and small store which sold cigars and candy as
well as its farm produce, but all were gone in the early forties. In
1951, Stongate Farm expanded and built their stand and the cor-
ner was again a busy place. The Stongate Farm Stand is a most
attractive flower and vegetable stand run by the second generation
Mr. and Mrs. George Wakeman. The farm gets its name from the
stone gateway at the original location of the farm, 215 Washing-
ton Street, where the senior Wakemans sold eggs. Then they added
dressed poultry and home-grown produce. These proved so popu-
lar that they built an addition to the stand, as well as plants-
greenhouses which make up the present complex. Today, people
come from great distances during the growing season for the
delicious Sherborn-grown vegetables and fruits with which George,
Gertrude and their sons daily stock the stand. (George Wakeman)

# 254 — This house was built before 1870, for Asa Lenox. It
was originally quite small and has been added to considerably. In
1915, Mr. Mitchell, editor of the Fox Breeder's Gazette, and Dr.
Samuel Wadsworth, a noted Boston veterinarian, established a
Silver Fox Ranch here and scientifically raised prize-winning show
and breeding stock in small buildings and fenced-in areas scattered
throughout the 50 acres. At that time prime silver fox pelts
brought from S200 to $400 apiece. Dr. Wadsworth built the west
wing of the house and designed and planted a formal garden that
brought visitors from considerable distances. A unique feature of
the house is a curved inner ‘corner’ wall in the original dwelling.
(George C. Penshorn)

Dopping Brook is the western boundary of Sherborn, for in
1724, Holliston was incorporated as a town and set apart from the
mother town. Ye people ‘West of Dopping Brook’ petitioned the
Legislature because the committee building the new meetinghouse
at this time were not open to choosing a more central location,
and the old meetinghouse hill was just too far removed from them.
Therefore, Holliston is celebrating her two hundred fiftieth year as
we celebrate our three hundredth.

Area 10

65

AREA 1 0

These are all private homes,
excepting only Farmer
Braun's Vegetable Stand
at #190 Western Avenue,
“The Braun Farm.” The
site of District School #3,
called The West School,
with the old hand pump
remaining, is now part of
the Town’s Conservation
land. Western Avenue is
the only street in town
whose numbers start at
the town bound, so you
will notice that we have
the higher numbers first
as we travel towards the
boundary.

PLEASANT STREET

#32 — This house in outward appearance does not look very
different from what it did when it was built in 1690, by the
Twitchells. C. O. Littlefield lived here for many years and when
he put on new clapboards, he found loopholes in the boarding.
These loopholes permitted the inhabitants to peer out as they
fired from inside during the Indian Wars. This home has been
carefully restored, and with its great, old barn and cupola topped
by a fine, old weathervane, it stands, neat and trim with its dis-
tinguished appearance, after a useful life of nearly three hundred
years. (Sewall H. Fessenden)

#46 — Built in 1844, by the great gunmaker, William Leland,
this home replaced the Old Badcock Place which had stood across
the road and which Leland acquired by buying the ‘widow’s thirds’
from his relative. He attached a Gun Shop to the new house, and
raised the barn using mortise and tenon construction. The small
horse barn nearby was built with hand-made blue nails. In the
house, the kitchen chimney boasts two iron Dutch ovens. (Harold
G. Hildreth)

66 Sherborn

WHITNEY STREET

Originally lined with only Whitney farms, Whitney Street
runs through the town boundary line and thence toward the town
of Ashland. The Railroad Station for West Sherborn was just off
the road and Daniel Whitney had a horse which was never late for
a train, but couldn’t be made to hurry for one until the engineer
started blowing the whistle.

#42 — At the turn of the century, this was an Episcopalian
Chapel located on a right of way that continued to the Railroad
Station. It was remodeled as a home, but the granite stone which
stood at the church entrance is still there. (Donald J. MacDougal)

Area 10

67

#68 — This attractive farm cottage with its doorway capped
with dentils and flanked by pilasters still has the old roofed well
in the yard. It was built by a Whitney before 1870. (Randall A.
Harvey)

CURVE STREET

This road, which ‘curves’ from Western Avenue to Whitney
Street, was long ago a way to the two houses described here.

#6 — Born in 1715, Grace Bullen, the daughter of Ephraim,
continued to live in this house after her marriage to James Morse
because she had inherited this portion of the land her family had
owned as early as the 1680s. Galim Bullard purchased the prop-
erty and, in 1 822, gained fame when he erected the ‘W’ Stone.

In the early 1900s, the Tuckermans in remodeling, paneled the
dining room to duplicate the one at the Wayside Inn. (John E.
Carlson, Jr.)

West School Pump

68 Sherborn

#10 - “The Timothy Twitchell Place” was part of Galim
Bullard’s holdings when he resided next door and was inherited
by Timothy through his marriage to Galim’s daughter. This
was one of the houses owned by the religious group active in
the area in the early 1900s and they incorporated the original
cottage in this much enlarged home. (James A. P. Homans)

Happy Hill Nursey School was founded in 1948 by Phyllis
Chickering. It was originally situated on a hill at 127 Western
Avenue, thus deriving the school’s name. In 1956, this place
was built at 30 Curve Street with special features to accommodate
the nursery school. The Henry Lanes purchased in 1971, and
Mrs. Lane, a graduate of Boston College School of Education with
seven years’ teaching experience in public schools, has continued
the school. Judy Mailman of Hollis Street also teaches at Happy
Hill. (Henry Lane)

WESTERN AVENUE

The West School. A little red schoolhouse of one room
standing close by the road was replaced about 1859, by one a bit
bigger and set a bit further back. At that time the trees in the
schoolyard were set out, one by each family so that a child would
say all his life, “This is my tree.” In the early 1900s, the children
all went to Center School and the school was moved east to serve
in Daniel Whitney’s water tower building till it burned. Sally
Whitney was the most noted teacher here and the longest ‘in office.’

# 190 — “The Braun Farm. ” An original map of this property
drawn by Sherborn surveyor, Dalton Goulding, in 1828, hangs in
this charming house. Known then as the Crackbone Farm and so
titled on the old map, this house was built before 1750, when
Joseph Crackbone married Lucy Coolidge. The Fitts family, who
used the farm as a summer place, remodeled it in the early 1900s.
The new barn they built was struck by lightning and burned in
the 1922 storm. All the cattle were removed during the fire but
one calf, whose would-be rescuer had to be saved himself. It was
ten days before the cattle were rounded up. (Robert Braun)

Farmer Braun’s Vegetable Stand offers the products raised on
“The Braun Farm.” The acres are farmed with sheep, chickens
and organic farm produce. Organic gardening uses companion
planting to control bugs, and animal fertilizers and wood ashes
for fertilizer, which eliminates the use of commercial chemicals.
(Robert Braun)

Area 10

69

#147 — “The Cleal House” was built before 1820 by Joseph
Cleal, whose descendants occupied it for a hundred years. Harold
Stinson who lived here in later years drove the school barge for
this district and he carefully bundled each child into a blanket and
covered them with hay in winter, for it took the barge an hour to
get across town to the school. This house is set end to the road
and has cathedral fans over the windows, striking in the simplicity
of the building. (Richard G. Dixon)

#137 — Built about 1825, for Captain Goulding by Sherborn’s
master-builder of the period, Ebenezer Mann, this place was bought
in the early 1900s by Mr. French who named it Hebron Farm and
started a religious group “The Believers.” His wife’s father lived
next door and acted as preacher. Neighbors in the immediate area,
were involved in the experience. (Allen Z. Kluchman)

70 Sherborn

AREA 1 1

/

/

/

/

/

In this part of Sherborn
there still stand four houses
which were built between
the years 1680 and 1870.

It is only recently that
the fifth house, built by
Benjamin T. Twitched in
1680, was demolished.

This stood on property
that is now the Elijah C.
Barber Reservation on the
west side of Western Ave-
nue, acquired by the Con-
servation Commission and
dedicated in July 1968, in
honor of Elijah C. Barber,
Sherborn’s Town Clerk for
53 years. As noted before,
the low numbers on Wes-
tern Avenue are at the
Framingham boundary,
so that, as we travel from
town, the higher numbers
precede.

#113 — “Oldfields” bears a name in use for this area before the
incorporation of the town and so-named on the ancient instru-
ments. The house, which is situated across from the entrance to
the Barber Reservation, was built before 1788, for a Morse, and in
1871, H. Alger bought it and resided here while he pursued his
career as a railroad engineer. This twin-chimneyed colonial is beau-
tifully situated end-on to the street and has a two-storied ell. There
are large barns and other outbuildings amid spacious grounds
which are fronted by a six-foot high step wall fashioned of field
stones. (Dr. David J. Hand)

#26 — On the west side of the Avenue and well back from
the road is a house built more than a hundred years ago by George
Coolidge. The original part is built with a dry stone foundation
and huge beams. The father of the man who built this house was
so proud when his son was born that he waxed eloquent in an

Area 11 71

acrostical stanza to the infant George, the initials of each word
spelling his name:

“Go Ever Onward, Righteous Glories Earning
Creative Omnipresence Only Learning, —

In Duty’s Garland-pathway Erudite.”

(Ralph B. Meaney)

The Barber Reservation

BRUSH HILL ROAD

#52 — Colonel Nathan Straten married Mary Bullen and “they
settled on the farm left by her father at Chestnut Brook now
Isaac Cozzens” wrote the historian, Morse, in 1856. Their first
child was born in May of 1761, thus dating the house as having
been built circa 1760. There is evidence that at one time it was a
very much smaller building which was later doubled in size. The
east side of the house has thick walls insulated with birch bark and
the ceiling of the room to the rear is slanted, denoting that in the
beginning the house was a saltbox, facing south like all the others.
The construction of the west side of the house shows it to be of
much later construction (Fletcher C. Chamberlin)

72 Sherborn

#60 — “The Fay Place” was built by Thomas Sawin circa
1680 and is one of the oldest of Sherborn’s saltboxes and it, too,
faces south. Thomas had a sawmill across the street on Chestnut
Brook, now Course Brook, and provided the boards for the build-
ing of the first church. When he removed to live on Broadmoor,

near the grist mill he had set up for the Natick Indians, a sawmill
continued to be operated, on this site, by different people, in-
cluding Isaac Cozzens in the mid-nineteenth century. (William
H. Claflin, IV)

Area 11

73

Fairfield Farm — This is one of the older family businesses
still operating in town. Started in the ’teens by Donald R. Mayo
at 255 Western Avenue, he moved his herd to this acreage because
of a superior well, and this farm is now run by his son, John M.
Mayo. It provides a large route of milk customers and has never
failed to make a day’s deliveries. Here is a place where you
can get good old-fashioned milk that has cream on the top for
whipping!

PERRY STREET

Please be respectful of the cemetery property and its old
headstones.

Brush Hill Cemetery was a gift to the town by Joseph Perry
in 1785, and his 21-year-old nephew, Luther, was the first per-
son buried here. Adjacent to this cemetery is a smaller walled
area which once was used for people connected with the Reforma-
tory, at that time within Sherborn’s bounds. This was replaced by
The Clara Barton Cemetery’ situated across the street and owned
by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Clara Barton, who
founded the Red Cross and gained national recognition for her
service to the Civil War soldiers, was the third head of the Reforma-
tory for Women, accepting this position at the urging of a Sherborn
citizen.

74 Sherborn

AREA 12

There are no buildings
open to the public in this
section of Washington
Street with the exception
of the Library. Do drop
in, catch your breath, and
browse awhile. Hours are
Mon. Wed. Fri. —

10 A.M. - 9 P.M.

Tues. Thurs. —

1 P.M. - 6 P.M.

Sat. (Oct. thru May)

10 A.M. - 5 P.M.

Stand at the point where Maple Street joins Washington Street
and face towards Holliston. Originally Holliston Road, it was a
portion of the old Hartford Pike that went on to Milford, Uxbridge,
and thence to Connecticut. Just picture the old coach proceeding
through town from Boston on its way south and the excitement it
must have aroused. George Washington passed through Sherborn
on his way back to Virginia in 1789 — his last visit to New England.
Having been refreshed at the local tavern he made his way down
the Pike, stopped at the Asa Sanger House (#70) at the foot of
Bull’s Hill, and briefly conversed with Asa, who was mending a
wall. What a story to tell your grandchildren! Back to the present
— and walk across the way to the ....

LIBRARY

“This library is a gift to the town of Sherborn from Richard
and Mary B. Saltonstall — devoted citizens for over fifty years —
dedicated January 1971” — thus reads the inscription on a heavy
beam on the inside of this striking contemporary building —
nestled on the site of Sawin Academy, surrounded by a ‘Greek
Revival’ church, Victorian Town Hall and an early 20th Century
brick schoolhouse. A real asset to the town, the library is de-
signed to house 35,000 volumes and serve 70 readers. Attractive
study areas, two huge fireplaces, private rooms and a very able
staff make for pleasant surroundings for meetings or just plain
browsing. A beautiful old beech tree stands guard over the build-
ing — a relic of the days of Sawin Academy.

Area 12

75

SAWIN ACADEMY and DOWSE HIGH SCHOOL

Built into the southerly retaining wall of the new library is
an engraved stone, which reads: “Site of Sawin Academy and
Dowse High School — 1874-1962.” Although the stately brick
edifice is no longer standing, the Academy played a unique role
in the town’s educational history. The school report for 1870
made a most important announcement, namely, a bequest to the
town by Martha Sawin of Natick, to establish “a select school in
the centre of the town.” The town gratefully accepted the gift, a
name was agreed on and the site was bought from the Russell
heirs for $2,000. The dedication took place September 10, 1874
— 100 years ago. Among those present were U. S. Vice President
Hon. Henry Wilson (Natick’s shoemaker) who delivered a brief
address. The school flourished and in 1910, by special act of
Legislature, became a public high school, and finally closed its
doors in 1949 because of lack of pupils. The building was razed

76 Sherborn

in 1962 and at that time, many townspeople, for old time’s sake,
bought a brick or two. Some are still in use as doorstops.

Sawin Acadamy

CENTER SCHOOL

The first public schoolhouse was voted by the Town at a
meeting held on December 29, 1727: “Then at said meeting
there was a vote passed to Build a Schoolhouse and to set it on
the Meetinghouse common on the Southerly side of the Meeting-
house.” This was the beginning of the trials and tribulations of
public education. The present Center School was completed in
1910, replacing a wooden building, and stands upon land near the
Library. This same year saw the unification of the many area
schools, including Sawin Academy, with the children being brought
by school barge to this new building. It was enlarged to its present
size in 1949 and has been altered several times since. Until 1957,
when Pine Hill School opened its doors, Center School housed
kindergarten and the first six grades.

Area 12

77

WASHINGTON STREET

#22 — The Flagg family has been in residence here since the
late 1700s. Originally, the land was part of the Town Grant pur-
chased by William Hill, a blacksmith, who built on it before he
sold it in 1747 to Caleb Greenwood. Ownership was transferred
to the present family when the land was purchased in 1772 by
Rev. Elijah Brown at which time it was altered and enlarged. Rev.
Brown was pastor of the church across the way till 1816 and
popular with his parishioners — perhaps because his lectures in
cold weather were from ten to fifteen minutes, no longer — quite
a change from two hours. He taught a select Classical and English
school in his home and fitted many students for college. This
twin-chimneyed, center entrance Colonial boasts seven fireplaces.
The exposed beams and corner posts are but two of the features
of this eighteenth century home. (Jacob B. Flagg, Jr.)

#27 — “The Blanchard House” was built in 1849 by Palemon
Bickford and purchased six years later by Dr. A. H. Blanchard
whose family have occupied it since that time. It is of the ‘Greek
Revival’ type of architecture which was popular in the middle of
the nineteenth century. This style was noted for its severity and
symmetrical lines. The facia board and molding below the gutter
was carried across the front of the house to accent the triangle of
the gable. Also the vertical boards at the corners of the house are
twelve inches wide with molded caps and bases to simulate col-
umns. The lintels over the first floor doors and windows are high-
er at the center than at the ends, carrying out the triangular idea.
The house was framed with mortise and tenon joints fastened with
oak pegs and sheathed in one-inch oak on both walls and roof.

There is a fireplace with brick oven in the ell. In 1 86 1 , an addition
provided room for Dr. Blanchard’s office with a separate entrance
from the new porch. (Joseph K. Blanchard)

# 42 — “The Grout Farm” has been the home of one family for
a number of generations. There are but few places you will find
in town where the descendants live in the old homestead. The
present house was built in 1859, a very splendid one indeed. At
the time of construction, some of the old home which had been
standing when they acquired the property from the Greenwoods
in the 1760s, was incorporated in the small building near the road.
(Francis Grout)

#60 — This charming red saltbox was originally built as a cen-
ter chimney colonial. Its date is uncertain but it is recorded that

78 Sherborn

in 1734 Richard Sanger 3rd, bought of the heirs of John Hull,
Mintmaster of the colony, one half of the remaining Hull grant,
and built the house for his farm help. However, some historians
date the house some 40 years earlier, 1690 to 1700. At any rate,
the twin chimneys were added in 1775. The paneling from the
front parlor of the old house was used as lumber to roof in the
saltbox addition. The large ell was added in 1961 by the present
owners — in keeping with the Revolutionary period. (Franklin
N. Wood)

#70 — “ The Bullen-Sanger House’’ was built by Elisha Bullen
whose first child was born in 1 684, thus dating the house. It is
said to have been reshingled at the time of the Battle of Bunker
Hill. The men at work on the roof heard the guns of that battle,
the wind being from the east. In those days the handmade shingles
riven from cedar logs with a frow were known to last over a
hundred years. Elisha was the son of Deacon Samuel, incorpora-
tor of Dedham, Medfield and Sherborn, and his brother Ephraim
also built in Sherborn west of Brush Hill. An early feature in
the house is the brick beehive ovens, the earliest type for baking

Area 12

79

in the colonies, which are located at the back of the yule-log size
fireplace in the summer kitchen. The present resident of this
ancient home is a descendant of many of Sherborn’s first families,
including the Lelands, Holbrooks, Morses, Deaths, Twitchells and
Bullards. Back of this house lies the ‘Goomer,’ a rough, rocky bit
of woodland. Here, according to legend, are two saddle bags
crammed with pirate gold buried in 1704 by one William Bull
who was a mate to Captain Kidd and a friend and boon companion
of the senior John Phipps. Hannah Bullen, daughter of Elisha, had
married ‘well’ into the family of Sir William Phipps, Colonial Gov-
ernor, whose relative shared in the treasure of the Spanish galleon.
(Francis B. Shepardson)

80 Sherborn

There are no open houses
or buildings on this street,
so please do not disturb
the residents.

MAPLE STREET

One of the older
streets in town, this hilly
road was once the princi-
pal route west to Ashland
from Sherborn and it ex-
tends approximately two
miles along the southern
edges of Paul Hill and Bear
Hill. Though it is much
improved today over the
dips and rises which horse-
men and wagons traversed
one hundred years ago,
today’s traveler will still
see the carefully and la-
boriously built stone walls
which bound its many
adjacent, once open, graz-
ing fields. These are now
filled with young hardwood and pine. Many of the old ‘corner’
pasture trees and roadside trees that were standing then are also
visible including, notably, the sycamores in front of the Gray house,
the ash in front of the Fischer house, and the many maples lining
the street.

Let’s drive on this winding, country road in autumn with the
maple trees ablaze in color. These trees were brought down from
Vermont by Mr. Holden and laid in his brook for eight years be-
fore he set them out along the road. When he came to Sherborn
the road bore a sign with an arrow saying “Ashland Road” but,
because of his tree planting, it was renamed Maple Street. He often
saw a horsedrawn wagon, headed for market, from which willow
baskets were hung in profusion, for this was the street where the
four Fleming brothers situated their willow weaving industry.

Cranberry pickers gathered the harvest in the lowlands, using
tools made by a Sherborn blacksmith. On both sides of the road
cows, horses and sheep grazed within the stone fenced pastures.

81

Area 13

#12 — “The Newman House” was built circa 1775 as the
wing of the original Porter-Locke house that stood on the site of
8 Washington Street. When Colonel Sanger built that present house
in 1819, it is thought he felt it too good to raze and, after using it
as quarters while the new house was being built, he attached it
thereto. When the place was purchased by Abijah Leland, he
moved both the south and north ells, taking away some ten or
twelve rooms. Thus the south ell was moved to this site and pur-
chased by Maurice Slattery. (Mrs. Edward Newman)

#16 — “John Fleming House ” built in the late 1850s by one
of the Fleming brothers who established the Willow Industry in
town, John chose as his site a high knoll overlooking a sprawling
meadow. (A. Stanley Pittman)

#18 — “Thomas Fleming House” was built circa late 1850s
by a Fleming brother who didn’t want to ‘leave his work at the
office’ for he framed his home astride a brook and set up shop in
the cellar. (Mrs. Ira Pease)

#31 — “The Grout Place” came to rest here after a trip across
the meadow in 1961 from “The Grout Farm.” Built in 1859 by
Franklin Grout as one of the great new barns, it was remade into a
country home in 1961 by John Bryer for the Grouts who have con-
tinuously held this land since 1760. (Robert F. Grout)

American Legion Hall. The William A. Bosworth Post 237 of
the American Legion erected this building in 1929, at the corner of
Green Lane, on land purchased from Mr. Parkinson for a nominal

American Legion Hall

82 Sherborn

#37 — About 1 868, this pretty cottage was built by the car-
penters who worked on Sawin Academy and here dwelt another
Fleming. At one time people felt this street should have been
named for the many Flemings who dwelt on it. (Mrs. E. Augustus
Johnson)

#39 — “ The Emerson Holden House ” was built about 1 850
by Emerson’s father, a carpenter from Vermont, and using only
hand tools, he formed one of the first curved stairways in the area
and enhanced the windows with carved moldings. He, too, mar-
ried a Fleming — the lovely Charlotte from up on the hill, and it

Area 13

83

was he who planted the many maples lining the road. (Mrs. E.
Augustus Johnson)

#56 — “The Clark House” was built for James Clark circa
1850, and the last one of that family to live there was “Katie”
who endeared herself to many as a practical nurse. (J. Douglas
Paul, Jr.)

#58 — This simple farmhouse was built in 1856, by John
Fleming, a retired minister. It was built in front of an existing
structure, now the step-down ell where the kitchen, a bedroom
and den are located. The garage is built on the foundation of a
barn where Fleming started his willow products industry. A large
willow tree to the east of the house may have been propagated
from the 400 sprigs reportedly brought from England. Its age is
not known, but the white ash on the front lawn is estimated to be
more than 200 years old. (Edward W. Fischer)

#80 — “The Coolidge House” built circa 1840, by George
Coolidge. His son Lowell was hurt in a blasting accident clearing
boulders from his pasture and was ever after known as “One-arm
Coolidge,” but he still did a fine day’s work. Interesting stone-
lined drainage tunnels are found in the grounds here. (James R.
Burley)

84 S herb or n

#90 — “ But tonb alls” so named for the sycamore trees planted
in 1789 around it, was built in 1722. Samuel Clarke, Jr. brought
his bride here to live through their lives, and four generations of the
family have been born under the roof. Seven generations have
lived here, and the main part of the structure which was built in
1778, remains as it was then, with brick fireplaces and oven, a
smoke closet, hand-hewn oak timbers and hand-wrought nails.
(Arthur C. Gray)

#93 — “ The Nothrup House ” was built before 1870, by Isaiah
M. Nothrup. Reverend Porter, a Civil War veteran, lived here until
his retirement from preaching about 1914. (Arthur C. Gray)

#97 — “The Emerline Sanger House” which he built circa
1850, has in the ell behind the main house an interesting fireplace
into which a large hemispheric-shaped iron caldron has been built
to boil maple sap into syrup. (Murray W. Randall)

#119 — This house was built circa 1840, for Stillman Rams-
dell who brought his bride, Eunice, from Southboro. Barns were
attached to the main house until destroyed by fire but the house
remained intact. The barns were later replaced, but separate and
at some distance from the house. (Harry C. Crawford, Jr.)

Area 13

85

# 140 — “Ashmont Farm” was built before 1775, by Eleazer
Leland, who was the son of Deacon William of the “Old Red House”
on Hollis Street. This house first served as a summer residence and
later a permanent residence of the Carter family for five genera-
tions. To the north of the house are great ledges spoken of in old
deeds as Rattlesnake Castle. To the left of the house, at the foot of
the hill, runs the beginning of ‘Dirty Meadow Brook.’ This beauti-
fully kept home was once a large farm with many barns, carriage
house and many storage houses. The farm buildings were located
directly across the street where Old Orchard Road now begins; the
‘hand-dug’ pond, on that same side, provided the water for the
farm animals. (John G. Carter)

The West Cemetery — Please be respectful when visiting our
cemeteries and be most careful of the ancient stones. The oldest
one here is that of Mrs. Hannah Sarah Twitchel bearing the date
of September 29, 1791.

#168 — “The Cushing House ” built by Brick, circa 1780, has
kept its original lines and even the old glass in the windows. Hand-
hewn oak beams are exposed. A fireplace large enough to turn a
whole animal on a spit and a Dutch oven are part of the charm of
this ancient place. (Carl I. Drew)

#190 — “The Whitney House. ” John and his son James built
this large farmhouse in 1800, and it remained in the Whitney fam-
ily for three generations. It is situated on high ground overlooking
a man-made pond and boasts the town’s only brick barns, which
were built by George Dexter, a wealthy Bostonian who used this
as his summer home for the first part of this century. (Mario
Onorato)

86 Sherborn

Situated around the Com-
mon are the Town’s Mem-
orials to her heroes.

Please respect the ceme-
tery property and its anci-
ent stones. All the homes
are private but the Dowse
Memorial Building is open
9 to 5 during the week
9 to 1 2 on Saturday.

WASHINGTON STREET

#8 — “The Colonel
Sanger House” was built
by Ebenezer Mann for the
Colonel’s home in 1819,
replacing what had served
as a parsonage from 1711.
One of the ministers
planted the horse chestnut
which stands before the
house. Two great wings
were moved from this
house to become homes on Maple Street and Zions Lane, and the
property once boasted the largest barn in town. The dentils which
adorn the roofline, the intricate sidelights flanking the front door,
and the excellent fanlight over it are particularly notable. (Arthur
C. Babson)

#12 — Here on the corner of Maple Street and opposite the
First Parish is a white clapboard house built in 1819, for Colonel
Sanger’s law office and here, as Sherborn’s first Postmaster, he had
the Post Office. The house today is considerably expanded and
changed from the original simple structure. (Robert Luther)

The Memorial which is on the triangle where Washington
Street meets Main Street was erected in 1969 to honor Sherborn’s
men and women who served in World War II.

The Memory Statue which is opposite the World War II Memo-
rial is dedicated to Sherborn’s heroes who made the supreme sacri-
fice in conflicts from 1676 to 1918, and their names appear on
bronze tablets set into the stonework. The Memorial is in the
Roman Doric style of architecture and its most conspicuous and

Area 14

87

88 Sherborn

impressive feature is a bronze statue representing ‘Memory’ by
Cyrus E. Dallin. The eight foot figure is that of a woman with
downcast face in an attitude of pensive remembrance of the sons
of Sherborn who gave their lives for their country in the French
and Indian wars, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the
Civil War, the Mexican War and World War I. It is linked with the
most recent of these conflicts by a metal helmet wreathed with
a chaplet of laurel which the figure holds in her encircling arm.

The inscription at the base of the statue reads, “In memory of the
men of Sherborn who gave their lives in defense of their country.”
This memorial was a gift to the town from William B. H. Dowse.

The Memorial Flag Pole, which is on the same site as the
Memory Statue, was erected to memorialize those men who gave
their lives in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
Their names encircle the marble base which is inscribed “In Memo-
riam.”

Central Cemetery with the stone of Grace Bullen, dated 1686,
the first stone placed here, is the third oldest cemetery in the town
and is on land that was originally part of the Common. Please
respect the cemetery property.

NORTH MAIN STREET

Dowse Memorial Building — This is currently being used for
Town offices but originally was built for a library in 1914 as a
memorial to the Reverend Edmund and Elizabeth Bowditch Dowse
by their son, William. In the Board Room, accessible to the pub-
lic, are portraits of William and his mother and two of his father,
one as a young man and the other as a minister. Over the fireplace
in this room is the portrait of Thomas Dowse of Cambridgeport,
who willed money to the Town of Sherborn which was used to
build the Town House. In this room the Selectmen now hold their
regular meetings every other Tuesday. The building is open for
Town business from nine to five during the week and from nine to
noon on Saturday.

Sherborn Historical Society — The lower level of the Dowse
Memorial Building is where the Society holds its meetings and dis-
plays the many historical treasures collected since its incorporation
in 1913. You are invited to browse when one of the Curators is in
attendance during the hours that the building is open.

Area 14 89

Dowse Memorial Office Building

#7 — “The Everett House” This graceful gable-roofed dwell-
ing was built in 1833 by Captain Bowen Adams for Dr. Oliver
Everett, who had been called to be the town’s physician. Of par-
ticular interest is the fact that this house, which has a fine fan-
topped center doorway flanked by pilasters, has remained in the
same family to the present sixth generation and remains essentially
as it was built with the attached carriage shed and well house.

The original specifications of the building contract are in possession
of the family and state the overall cost to be $1700! (Thomas J.
Homer)

#9 — “The Onion House” — Mrs. Onion who lived for many
years as a widow in this house is remembered as a tiny figure
swathed in black who had many cats. This house was built for
Captain Samuel Pratt before 1840 and is a charming example of
an early Cape Cod house. Note the oriental influence reflected in
the beautifully balanced front entrance. (Daniel J. Harrington)

#75 — “The Stone House” was built circa 1850. This was the
home of the historian, Francis Bardwell, at the time of his death
in 1950. This large house, built by Nymphus Stone is one of the
few which still has the original bam standing. (John A. Luczkow)

90 Sherborn

#16 — “The Clark-Tabor House” was built in 1842 for George
Clark who had but a short walk to the store which he tended for
the Hawes brothers, situated on the present lawn of the Town Of-
fice Building. The Pearmans acquired this house with acreage in
1965 and opened Ellendale Stables and their principal goal is to
maintain what they call a ‘family stable.’ They have built two
barns including a large indoor riding arena and maintain, in addi-
tion, two and a half miles of riding trails. (O. Dale Pearman)

#17 — “Unity Hall” is not visible from the road. This charm-
ingly renovated house was moved here in 1959 from the Common
at 10 South Main Street. It was built for Palemon Bickford by
Captain Bowen Adams to be a straw hat factory. It has since then
led a varied life: in 1855 it was known as Bickford Hall and was a
private school with 53 pupils at $4 a term! It was bought by the
church in 1873 for a parsonage. Later it was called Unity Hall and
was used for Sunday school and church and town recreation.

(John C. Bryer)

Area 14

91

ZIONS LANE AND LINDEN LANE

It is better to walk down this dead-end street than to drive
because there is no turning space. Please realize there are only
private homes here.

#5 — This is a clapboard house with the perfectly arched fan-
light over the doorway flanked by louvered shutters, and a walled
garden where Miss Farrar kept her prize Toggenburg goats. A
primitive of her ancestors was donated by Miss Farrar to the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts and may be seen in the Karolik Collection of
paintings. This home, built in 1819 by Ebenezer Mann, was a wing
of the house at 8 Washington Street until it was moved here in the
late 1800s. (James R. Boynton)

# 8 — This house, built prior to 1870, was saved from burning
when the house that stood behind it went up in flames. When the
barn caught fire, the townsmen worked frantically in the winter
night to tear down the connecting shed which threatened to ignite
the house. (Charles F. Rockwell)

#5 Linden Lane — This was a small house when built, prior to
1870, but it was greatly enlarged and remodeled by Dean Wheatley.
(George F. Wilkins, Jr.)

92 Sherborn

Crossing the railroad tracks on North Main Street brings you
into Sherborn’s business district and the town’s Recreational Area.
The shopkeepers are friendly and help retain the small town atmo-
sphere while dispensing the most up-to-date products. You will
find that Sherborn businessmen put old-fashioned service first.

NORTH MAIN STREET

#19 — Klein's Mobil Station is owned by Lester G. Klein, who
has served as Chief of the Fire Department for several years. He
has operated the business since 1930 and his son, Stephen B., is
now associated with him. Together, they not only service cars,
but also sell snowmobiles, tractors, snow blowers and a complete
line of lawnmowers.

#21 — Country Kitchen is described by owner Joan Mott as
“a happy-go-lucky breakfast and luncheon place.” It is also known
as a fine spot to enjoy a great home-cooked meal, and probably the
only place you can get pies made from scratch, with the apples

Area 15

93

peeled each day, and cream pies served with real whipped cream.

The Country Kitchen was started by Mrs. Genevieve Heffron in
1959, because she felt that there was a need for it. Three years
later she sold the business to Barbara Klein, Minetta Eastman and
Joan Mott, but Mrs. Eastman bowed out that same year. Barbara
and Joan continued together for two years and often asked each
other, “How will we keep this great big double boiler filled with
homemade soup?” Joan Mott carried on when Mrs. Klein with-
drew in 1964, and with the able help of Mrs. Alice Massa, who has
been with her for ten years, does manage to get that ‘great big
double boiler’ filled with homemade soup each day during colder
weather. Noteworthy, also, is the proprietary interest Sherbom
takes in this venture, for it is not unusual during a busy lunch hour
to see regular customers help themselves, run the cash register,
clear some tables, and even wash dishes!

#23 — McArthur's Market was established in 1959, by Irving
McArthur, and William “Bo” Van Blarcom is the present owner.
McArthur’s remains ‘old-fashioned’ — in the sense that quality and
service are stressed, and meat is cut strictly to order, with free
delivery in town. Since McArthur’s was granted Sherborn’s first
liquor license in 1971, they have offered bottled liquor, beer and
a varied selection of wines from many parts of the world.

#25 — The Village Barbershop was established in 1967, and
owned by Herve Pelland, who keeps shop Tuesday through Satur-
day doing men’s, women’s and children’s hair cutting.

#27 — “The old Justin Bullard House " was built prior to 1860,
and moved here from where the Post Office now stands after the
Civil War. In 1959, Jo Bryer and Grace Hardigan moved their real
estate business, started the previous year, from Jo’s home to a
small office built just south of the icecream stand. Business boom-
ed and in 1966, they bought this old Justin Bullard House, which
the building prowess of Jo’s husband, John, restored for the office
of Bryer & Hardigan Associates, Inc., with two apartments on the
second floor. The little red building moved with them and is
now housing the barber shop. The business prospered but was
sold in 197 1, to the real estate firm of Mrs. Joan T. Pease where
Grace remains a part-time broker.

Pease's Real Estate was incorporated in 1960, by Joan T.
and Kenneth Pease as The Peases, Inc. They had their office in
their home at 93 North Main Street. Mrs. Pease bought this prop-

94 Sherborn

erty in 1971, and, as sole proprietress with the staff of five, con-
tinues to operate a thriving business.

Paul Insurance Agency, /tic. has been a family insurance
business since 1828, when Daniel Paul was appointed agent for
Middlesex Mutual Ins. Co. It has been active through five genera-
tions, and was first conducted at the family homestead, 21 North
Main Street, then at the present owner’s residence, 2 Eliot Street,
and since 1968, at the present address. The original policy, issued
by Daniel Paul, the founder of the agency, may be seen framed
and hanging in the office.

CEMETERY ROAD

Pine Hill Cemetery was dedicated in 1852, and is Sherborn’s
newest burial place. The first four ministers were reburied here
from the old Central Cemetery and a monument erected in their
memory. (Please respect the cemetery property.)

Ward J. Parks Skating Pond. This town skating pond was
dedicated by Richard Saltonstall in 1966, who said, “By making
this gift, I am able to commemorate a most devoted public servant,
who was Selectman for fifteen years, a man of fine character and
likable personality.”

Sherborn Fire Station

Area 15

95

NORTH MAIN STREET

The Sherborn Fire Station was built in 1946, and houses three
of our fire trucks and the rescue truck. The rest of Sherborn’s fire
apparatus is housed in the Farm Road Shed, thus affording equip-
ment on each side of the railroad tracks.

St. Theresa's Rectory at #24 is a distance from its church on
South Main. This home was built in 1840 for Andrew Bullard, who
had a large shoe manufactory where the Fire House stands. It was
bought by the Archdiocese of Boston in 1946, as a home for the
Pastor of St. Theresa’s Parish.

The Town Recreation Area, located between Pine Hill Road
and Cemetery Road east of Main Street, was purchased in 1923, for
a ‘playground.’ There are now four playing fields for Little League,
Farm League and the Men’s Softball League. The fields are also
used for junior football and soccer. Because of its location, the
area is well used for both planned and casual recreation. In this
area also are the Town’s tennis courts, built in 1947, and provided
with lights since 1969. The courts receive constant use in season
with instruction programs provided. In addition, the Sherborn
Tennis Association runs an annual Fall Tournament open to all
town residents. The toboggan run on the north face of Pine Hill
provides a long season of extremely fast sliding. The swings and
slides situated in a corner of the grounds under the shade trees is
a nice place for the younger children in the lazy summer weather,
and it is here that bandstands have been set up for many of
Sherborn’s former celebrations. Many generations have enjoyed
the Fourth of July fireworks as they sat on their blankets spread
on the grass of the ballfield.

#26 — Devitt’s Garage is a family business started in 1926 by
John F. Devitt and his brother, Thomas D. Devitt, whose son,
Thomas J., is now in charge. The garage provides all types of auto-
mobile service as well as operating a Chevrolet Dealership con-
tinually since 1926.

#27 — Mr. Hamburg, Inc. was first established as a Brewster’s
Icecream Stand in 1958. This stand is frequented by passing
travelers and the youth of the town.

#29 — U. S. Post Office, Sherborn, Massachusetts, was dedi-
cated on May 22, 1965. It is open from Monday through Friday
from 8 to 5:30 and on Saturday from 8 to noon. Sherbornite
Mr. Lawrence B. Connelly is Sherborn’s Postmaster.

96 Sherborn

#31 — Alfred Hairstylists. This business was started in 1966
when space in Ivar’s block became available. Owner Mrs. Barbara
Greene provides a tastefully run accommodation.

#31 — Sherborn Apothecary. Michael V. Conena, Registered
Pharmacist, is the proprietor of this shop opened in 1965. Besides
getting prescriptions and medicines here, all Sherborn knows it’s
the place to come for papers and magazines, greeting cards and
stationery supplies, cosmetics and boutique gifts.

#31 — Framingham Trust Co. The Sherborn branch office of
the Framingham Trust Co. provides the town with quick, efficient
banking services.

POWDER HOUSE LANE

#5 — Professional Building

Eacker Associates — This firm was founded in 1973 by James
Eacker and provides part-time management services to institutions
in the areas of facilities planning, development and construction.

Widger and Walter Real Estate — This firm, owned by two
Sherborn residents, was formed in 1967, and is engaged in residen-
tial, industrial and commercial land sales.

Office of State Representative, George R. Sprague — Sherborn
resident, George R. Sprague, representative of the 41st Middlesex
District, has an office in this building where residents of his district
may contact him.

"a

Sherborn Depot

Area 15

97

Offices of Alvin Pierce, D.M.D. and Jon T. Kapala, D.M.D.,
both Sherborn residents.

Falk Associates — This firm is involved in computer applica-
tions and financial management control.

Modern Handcraft Inc. — This is the New England advertising
office of the Kansas City-based publishing house “Modern Hand-
craft,” which publishes such magazines as “Work Bench,” “Flower
and Garden,” and “The Work Basket.”

The Depot is no longer standing here where it was witness to
much of the life of the town for nearly 70 years. It has been moved
and converted into a house at 20 Lake Street. Wagons and carriages
converged on this spot to meet the passenger trains and milk was
dropped off in the milk house next to the station. Henry Bullard
was a likely choice for the first Stationmaster for he lived at the
corner of the lane, which was then named Depot Street. When the
Depot was moved away in 1938, it was called Railroad Avenue.

The Coalsheds were operated by Alfred Carter when he be-
came Stationmaster. You could be sure of your delivery ‘between
trains’ and with the coal came the news of the day, of course.

The Powder House was built by the Town in 1800, so that
the gun powder could be removed from the Meetinghouse where
it had been stored, causing a great deal of concern to the women-
folk. James Bullard was appointed Keeper, and the building was
conveniently placed in a meadow overlooking the lane which ran
behind his house at 33 North Main Street. Bullard Lane, at that
time, came in from Hunting Lane and then turned west up Brush
Hill. (In 1870, the railroad tracks bisected this lane.) The site of
the Powder House, which the Town voted to demolish in 1857,
will be on your left at a crest in the hill, as you walk up the delight-
ful grass-covered way that runs between stone walls.

NORTH MAIN STREET

Along Main Street the old colonial houses are all situated
close to the road with modest driveways to the side. Ignoring
the more recent buildings it is easy to imagine this as a dirt road
overhung with great elms and the clean, white houses sitting
comfortably amid simple stonework and small yards.

# 30 — “The Mann House ” was built circa 1782 for Eleazer
Dowse whose daughter Polly married the master builder, Ebenezer
Mann, and this became their home. Mann’s daughter outlived

98 Sherborn

three successive husbands and always demanded that she be ad-
dressed by all her names “Mary Ann Mann Bullen Blish Pratt.”

This house and parallel bam sit opposite Powder House Lane and
exemplify the quiet simplicity of the post-Revolutionary period
of architecture. (Mrs. Charles W. Taylor)

# 33 — “The Bullard House ” was built by Colonel Sam Bullard
in pre-Revolutionary years, and his first child was born here in 1762.
The walls in the front rooms were stenciled rather than papered.

This hip-roofed colonial has twelve over twelve windows and a nar-
row fanlight in the center entrance doorway. The imposing resi-
dence is further enlarged by substantial north and west ells. (Thur-
low S. Widger, Jr.)

#32 and #34 — “Old Ben Bullard’s House” was built prior to
1800 by Old Ben as a two-family house, one side for himself and
one for his son. It stands solidly, end-on the street, with twin cor-
ner porches and entrances on the north and south sides. (John R.
Fitzpatrick)

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99

#36 The Rockwood House ” was built in 1 840 for Charles
Rockwood, in the architectural style so popular in that period
It has recently been remodeled and divided into apartments
(Ronald Buitta)

..... #4I.~ “ The Paul House” was built by the Hon. Daniel L
Whitney in the first half of the eighteenth century. One of our
most illustrious citizens, he was a member of our State Conven-
tion. He served as a Representative to the Great and General

a Hte,r 'tnnhe Senate- Capt- DanieI Paul b0l*ght the house
in 1824, and it still remains in his family. He was a retired sea

eaptmn iind established a famous tavern here, adding the south
ell to the ancient house. He also added the old Center school as
the west ell. Other additions were later made, but one descendant
did move an ell away! The beautifully proportioned, hip-roofed
southern ell is attached to the gable-ended colonial with its center
entrance tanked by intricate sidelights, set off by elegant hanging
lanterns. (Mrs. Lesley C. Paul)

100 Sherborn

#44 — “The John Holbrook House” was built in 1880 by one
of the sons of the successful cider mill operator. This spacious
example of Victorian style architecture was the showplace of Sher-
born and one of the first with central heating. The owners made
the most of this innovation, for the radiator in the dining room has
a built-in, glass-doored cupboard for warming dishes. John also
built in an acetylene plant for gas lighting, but electricity arrived
in town before this was ever used. (William Broer)

#46 — “The Dr. Tapley Wyeth Place” is a federal homestead,
the front of which was built by Dr. Tapley Wyeth in 1790. He was
a physician in Sherborn and settled where Deacon Benoni Learned
had lived in 1679. With its low ceilings and tiny rooms, it is pos-
sible that the rear section of the house is the original Learned home.
It is most definitely an earlier structure than the larger federal front
of the house which the Doctor built. Dr. Wyeth represented Sher-
born in the General Court in 1813, and served the town as Select-
man for six years. His widow conducted a dressmaking business,
and endeared herself to her neighbors. The gravestone of their
daughter, Eliza, has been in the cellar of the house for many years,
rediscovered by the present owners. The interiors of the two front
rooms reflect the style of the day with paneling surrounding the
fireplace in the north room. The room to the south was the Doc-
tor’s office and retains the original interior shutters on the win-
dows and the large brass knob and lock combination on the door
leading into the hall. Once level with the road, the house was
raised in the late nineteenth century but not moved. With its
pleasing leaded windows flanking either side of the front door,
the house presents an example of refined elegance in the federal
style of architecture. (William A. Van Blarcom)

ELIOT STREET

Pine Hill School has served the town as a grammar school
since the addition and renovations were made in 1971, when a
large central library was surrounded by open classrooms. Prior to
that time it had served as the town’s elementary and junior high
school from the time it was built in 1957. It is ideally situated
next to the recreation area of the town.

#16 — This home was the north ell of the “Paul House” and
was moved here long before there was an Eliot Street. This square,
hip-roof wing had been added to the main house before 1875 and
moved away before 1899. (Doris M. Nilson)

Area 16

101

The houses in this section are all private residences, with the
exception of Sherborn’s Town Shed. Please do not disturb the
owners as you enjoy the area.

NORTH MAIN STREET

#57 — This house was originally built for Captain Partridge,
whose family came from Medfield and married into the Perry and
Babcock families here, both of these families appearing to have
been business associates of Partridge. It has usually been said that
the house was built in 1800, but parts of it appear to have been
built at different times. The front has higher ceilings and larger
rooms, while the back has low ceilings with some exposed cor-
ner and ceiling beams and smaller rooms, thus indicating that
the back was built first. This house and the one next door, #53
and #55, had always been owned by the same family until 1939,
when the property was divided and sold.

The former kitchen contains a large cooking fireplace with
brick oven, dry oven for wood and a clean-out door from the
hearth to the cellar for cleaning ashes from the fireplace. Below
the fireplace in the cellar is a brick arch for storage and another
large brick area, apparently also for storage. The house has been
rearranged at various times to conform to the needs of the time.
(Alvin C. Tyson)

102 Sherborn

The owner of this combined property at one time raised
strawberries for the Boston Market. These were picked and
hulled by women, and then driven in a horse cart by the owner
in the very early hours of a Saturday morning to the Faneuil Hall
Market. The women felt underpaid, and so one day refused to
hull the berries after they had picked them. What was the poor
man to do? He took his unhulled strawberries to market and
sold them at a price reduced from what he could get for the
hulled ones. When he next went to market, the dealers told him
not to have his berries hulled any more, as they kept much better
with the hulls on. This was the first time that strawberries were
known to be sold with hulls on and probably the beginning of
that custom.

#53 and #55 - Built in 1796, for Captain Harvey Partridge
as a factory for making pitch and spading forks, this is the older of
the only two stone houses in Sherborn, the other being on Curve
Street. Cranberry rakes and broad axes also were made here.
Captain Partridge had a way of tempering steel that made his forks
more durable than others. This secret was never revealed and died
with him. The letters “H.P.” are carved in the stone over a
door and are assumed to be his initials. The walls of the house are
12 to 15 inches thick. At the time of the War of 1812, the building
was extended at the back, which is apparent from the fact that the
masonry in that area is not as well done as the excellent work at
the front. During, or after, the Civil War, this building was con-
verted to a house. At one period, it fell into disrepair and the roof
leaked, so the owner, who lived next door, stored fruit here, as is
evidenced by the brown stains still remaining on the floor. The
beauty of this house is its durability and quaint charm. (Robert
M. Clark)

#54 — “The Amasa Green House, ” built about 1 800, stands
north of Butler Street. Amasa was a carpenter and the town coffin
maker. The north side of the house has full height basement door
and windows which opened onto the coffin shop. The house was
greatly remodeled and the interior changed about 1930. There
were no undertakers in the early days and funerals were always
the day after death except in very cold weather. When death
visited a Sherborn family, Amasa Green was notified. He arrived
with his tools, horses and lumber and proceeded to measure the
dead person for his coffin, which he built right then and there. It
is said that he made coffins with six sides, not four. (David W.
Crellin)

Area 16

103

#58 — Very little is known of the early history of this house,
but since it was assessed in 1870, we know that it was built before
that. Originally it was a story and a half Cape. About 1900, its
roof was raised and the house left open to the weather during
litigation. Later, it was remodeled. (Lesley C. Clark, Jr.)

#59 — “The Andrew Newell Place” was bought of Mr. Amory
of Boston by Newell, and was the lot originally assigned to Nathani-
el Morse upon the Plain. Andrew settled here about 1767. Mr.
Grout’s grandmother was born here in 1840, when her father,

Elijah Leland, owned it and later, a library was maintained here
for the school across the street. The large, square colonial stood
in front of the original barn, which is still standing, on the north
side of the drive and cornerwise to the road. A stone wall, however,
curved into the driveway in such a manner as to create the optical
illusion that the house was square with the road. This house was
replaced by the present one in 1895, and is occupied today by
Mrs. Emma Houghton who is the holder of Sherborn’s Gold Post
Cane as the oldest resident. (Kenneth S. Thomas)

104 She r born

#60 - This house was built in 1 834 by Hiram Jones, as a
school and called the “Plain School” because it was on the Plain.
This school district was so-named. Hiram was from Dover and
had worked on the First Church. The school was remodeled as a
house by Charles Olsen in 1900. Formerly, it was set further back
from the road with the playground for the children in front of it.
(Wesley F. Jensen)

#61 — “ Lemuel Leland House ” was built about 1810, by the
famous builder, Ebenezer Mann, for Lemuel Leland, still renowned
for his finely made guns which are now collectors’ pieces. Eben-
ezer also built the Gun Shop for him between the house and Indian
Brook. The shop was later made into a house, then removed to
Lake Street, and finally destroyed by fire. (Angelo A. Cialdea)

Area 16

105

BUTLER STREET

#5 — Jeremiah Butler was born in Hopkinton in 1789. He
served at Sherborn as an apprentice at carriage-making, and in the
autumn of 1815, he settled in Sherborn. He built his house in
1818, at least most of it handmade by him. He painted 44 1 8 1 8”
in various places throughout the house. It has been occupied by
his descendants for over five generations. Since he made the
wheels for the carriages manufactured next door, one wonders if
that may have been where he apprenticed. He was known as
‘‘Squire Butler” and often held Court in his dining room where
he could close the wooden shutters when Court was being held.

This street is named for him.

Jeremiah had a telescope and set up a post on Brush Hill to
support it. There he would take his guests and show them all the
landmarks within twenty miles. While a young man, he heard of
an instrument at Harvard College called a ‘thermometer’ that
measured temperature. When he had a home of his own, he bought
one of those new instruments and people from all around came to
look at this curiosity.

Squire Butler’s old wheelwright shop was later moved across
the grounds and added to the back of the house, making the pres-
ent ell. In front of the house are stone posts connected with iron
chains. In the center Jeremiah placed a gate made of iron rods
with iron chains connecting the rods. On the tops of six of the
posts are letters, one on each post: B-U-T-L-E-R.

When he made his will, he had only two daughters surviving,
Rowena Butler and Mrs. Vorestus Ware. The will states that the
house was to be equally shared by the two women, Rowena to
have the large ground floor room on the east side with the two
chambers above it, and her sister to have the large ground floor
room on the west side with the two chambers over it. This is one
of the few old houses in Sherborn that has not been restored. It
still retains its authentic old-time charm. (Mrs. Robert W. Allison)

Town Shed — A committee of five was appointed by the
Moderator in March 1959, to report to the Selectmen on plans
for a new Highway Department building. They agreed that it
could be built for $35,000, but the final figure was $40,000.

The building was occupied in 1960.

ELIOT STREET

#29 — The exact date this house was built is not known, but
it is known that it pre-dates Eliot Street, which was constructed

106 Sherborn

about 1830. The property faced on Obed Lane and included a
carriage shop which is now the barn, and the wheels for these car-
riages were made next door by Jeremiah Butler. After Eliot Street
was put in, Duross cut a door on the second floor of his carriage
shop and built a ramp out to the new street. The descendants of
the carriage maker were spoken of in the Natick Bulletin of 1 897
as ‘summer people,’ and, at this time, quite a number of Sherborn
houses were occupied by people from the city as summer places.
This interesting home was restored in the forties by Mr. Dauley.
(Jeffrey B. Nachman)

#45 — Joshua Holbrook, who was born in September 1819,
had this house built in 1845, with his paint shop nearby. It even-
tually went to his grandson Irving Holbrook, whose wife’s name
was Mamie. Irving and Mamie belonged to the Whist Club and
always had to have the club meeting first in the autumn before the
stove was set up in the living room, as afterwards there was not
enough room for the whist tables. After they died, the place was
sold, in 1950, to Walter Townsend who restored it. This restoration
included adding a section to the front of the house, thus enlarging
it considerably. (George J. Goldsmith)

Area 16

107

LAKE STREET

#47 — “ The Collins House” was originally a large and elegant
carriage house built by Ebenezer Mann before 1821. .The frame
was moved from Maple Street just off Washington Street and this
center entrance colonial built from it. (Robert G. Ambos)

108 Sherborn

Enjoy the exteriors and the Green.
Except for Beresford Antiques at
#86 and the Stand at #100,
these are all private homes.

Dowse’s Corner encompasses the
area formed by the intersection
of North Main, Coolidge and Lake
Streets, and is one of the attrac-
tive and interesting corners in
town. Nineteenth century houses,
mostly white with dark shutters,
face each other across the roads
with an air of dignified companionship. Even the modern apple
stand has a history. Eight of the houses in this vicinity were built
for members of the Dowse family, and two are still occupied by
them.

The corner must have been a busy place in the 1800s. The first
member of the family to settle here was a leather dresser, and suc-
ceeding generations carried on the manufacture of whips and shoes
in a number of shops around the houses, and raised applies, vege-
tables and eggs for sale. The largest shoe shop in town was a four-
story structure built on the point of land between Coolidge and
North Main Streets. On a dry and windy day in 1907, it burned
down in a fire started by sparks from the train.

Joseph Dowse planted ash and sycamore or buttonwood trees
on the triangle when he returned after the Revolution. One of
each is left to celebrate the bicentennial along with the country.

Six varieties of Douglas fir were planted here by the Tree Warden,
Harvey Davis, after World War I, and all but one were preserved
when the intersection was redesigned in 1969.

NORTH MAIN STREET

#83 -Moses Perry built this house, one of the oldest on
North Main Street, about 1782. Around 1800, it was sold to
Moses Chamberlain, who erected a tannery. This business-and-
home was bought by Deacon Oliver Fisk in 1814. Built and ex-
panded over a period of years, the earlier part of the L-shaped
house retains the low ceilings and wide pine board floors. The
present owner discovered insulation composed of rags glued to-
gether with newspapers dated 1 860. (Willard R. Tougas)

Area 1 7

109

#84 — This house was built for Deacon Oliver Fisk in the
middle 1800s when he moved here from across the road. The
house was altered during the 1930s, but its nineteenth century
design is still apparent. (Bruce Marcel)

N. DOWSE & SON,

SHOE NAIVEFACTIIRERS,

SIIERHORN, MASS.

May 1st, 1850

#86 — This charming little house was built for Emlyn Spar-
hawk in 1833, and was bought by the present owner from Emlyn’s
granddaughter, Sarah, who taught third and fourth grades in Sher-
born for 44 years. Emlyn and his son carried on their cobbler’s
business in a shop in the field. The shop was moved between the
house and bam in recent years and serves the present owners as an
antique and clock repair shop called Beresford Antiques. Spar-
hawk found that his house occupied the site of a stockade defense
against Indians. The remains of a row of posts set together in
the ground were discovered when he was excavating for the
cellar, together with a quantity of arrowheads, so there is
more history to this site than meets the contemporary eye.

(Carl Beresford)

#91 — This house was built about 1814 by Benjamin Dowse,
a whip-maker, who married Thankful Chamberlain. Two of his
children were William Chamberlain Dowse and the Rev. Edmund
Dowse, who became pastor of Pilgrim Church. The house was
built in stages, the lower back first, an enlargement of that and
then, as fortunes prospered, the center-entrance front section,
about 1830. At that time the tax assessment was partly deter-
mined by the number of window panes in a house. Benjamin
had doubled the windows in his house by the addition and must
have been relieved when the method of assessment was subse-
quently changed. The house has three chimneys with eight fire-
places. There is wide-board wainscoting with lapstrake-type
grooving, gunstock posts and handsome carved moulding. Ter-
raced gardens were laid out when the Saunders family owned
it, and they also carved one of the fireplace mantels with classic
wheat and flower pattern. (William Gulliver)

110 Sherborn

# 93 — Lowell Coolidge built this house about 1850 on land
bought from Benjamin Dowse. The house is a copy of #100 with
the exception of the porch and, as it was built all at once instead
of in stages, all the rooms are on the same level. Coolidge had
the second largest shoe manufactory, on an open lot to the right
of the house. After 1908 this shop was moved to Holliston and
made into a house. The house includes six fireplaces, wide board
floors and fine plaster work and stenciling. (Richard H. Bates, Jr.)

COOLIDGE STREET

#1 — Andrew Jackson Church, who invented a very success-
ful carriage wheel jack, built this house in 1 85 1 . He and his son,
Waldo, worked at Dowse’s Shoe Factory, where Jack was super-
visor of the stitching room. This house was designed to be heated
by stoves and so has narrow chimneys, but a fireplace has been
added. (Robert A. Bullard)

Area 17

111

# 3 — This house was built in 1846 for Joseph Dowse, Jr., on
family-owned land. Joseph, a whip-maker, followed the family’s
tradition of public service. (Seymour W. Carter)

NORTH MAIN STREET

C. A. Dowse & Son, Inc., a family business now in its fourth
generation, are apple growers with 45 acres of producing orchards
in Sherborn. They pick, sort, and store their crops of about 20
different varieties of apples during the season.

Roughly 95 per cent of the crop is sold direct to consumers
from the stand at Dowse’s Corner on Main Street. Plant facilities
are spacious, comprising a packing shed with the latest kind of
grading machine, a cold storage area which holds about 2,000
bushels of apples at 32° F, and a large stand heated for the late
Fall and Winter selling.

Not many years ago a cider mill was added to the operation,
and cider is made every two or three days and kept under refrigera-
tion, as no preservatives are used. A more recent development was
the creation of an extensive Christmas Tree plantation.

This undertaking requires all members of the family, including
children and grandchildren, to pitch in. It requires some 30 other
hands during the harvest season to operate it, and is the kind of
enterprise which helps to strengthen the rural character of Sherborn.

#100 — Built for Joseph Dowse in 1783, this house has been
called home by a Dowse family ever since. His son Nathaniel had
a whip-making shop at the far end of the ell and a shoe shop where
he made brogans across the street. During the Civil War the inven-
tory backed up until the front rooms of the house were stacked to
the ceiling with shoes, and the floors had to be reinforced with
double beams, still to be seen in the cellar. The oldest part of the
house is now the ell as the rest was rebuilt about 1 844. (Charles
A. Dowse, Jr.)

#102 — This house, built in 1854 for Nathaniel Henry Dowse,
was a copy of the house next door. Henry, as he was called,
was sent South, following the Civil War, as an agent of the Federal
Government. His task was to assist in the rescue of valuables that
had been looted from Confederate families, restoring them to
their owners if possible or selling them at auction if not. The
house was extensively remodeled in 1942, and some of its Greek
Revival features are now being restored. (Michael J. Goldberg)

112 Sherborn

LAKE STREET

This road was laid out in 1852, and a squashy job it must
have been in this section between North Main and Eliot Streets,
because the brook crosses the road twice, and there is a swamp
along one side. The widening of Indian Brook for a waterhole was
begun after the shoe-shop fire in 1907, when many wood-shingled
roofs in the neighborhood were threatened by flying sparks and
the fire engines were hard-pressed for water.

#13 — “White Oaks Farm ” takes its name from the splendid old
trees on the knoll behind the house. Built by William Chamberlain
Dowse, it was the first house on the street (about 1856, on land
given by his father Benjamin). It was inherited by William’s son,
Aaron, a journalist and editor of The New England Grocer and
prominent in State and Town politics. This house had its cedar-
shingled roof replaced with a metal one after the 1 907 fire des-
troyed a barn on the property. A later near-disaster was turned
into an asset by Joseph Lavash, who ran a chicken farm here in
the thirties. Lightning struck a nearby tree, traveled along its
root, and blew a hole in the cellar wall. Mr. Lavash decided the
cellar could use an outside entrance and built a bulkhead around
the hole. The ell was extended, its roof raised and a fireplace
added by the present owners. On the knoll behind the house is

Area 17

113

a little cottage built about 1 897 for Boston-dwelling relatives as a
summer home, which has since seen many generations of honey-
mooners. (William C. Price, Jr.)

#20 — This house was built prior to 1870 by the Railroad
as their station at the end of Depot Street (now Powder House
Lane). It was moved to this site and remodeled as a home by
Elmer Dingley in 1938. During the move the house got stuck in
the middle of Lake Street between a tree and a telegraph pole.

The moving crew let it spend the night there and continue its
journey in the morning — a tribute to a more leisurely way of
life than our streets see today. The remodeling was done with
great imagination and taste, and a particularly fine feature is
the graceful central stairway with its curved railings. (Mrs.

William J. Rooney)

#23 — This house was moved to this spot around 1 890, but
its origin is hard to trace. It was undoubtedly a store and post
office downstairs and an open hall upstairs. The upstairs ceiling
was curved, and the original wood-shingled roof is still in place
beneath the newer one. The ell was added by the present owners.
Obadiah Morse, Sherborn’s first Town Clerk and first school
teacher, had his home behind this house where a foundation is
visible. Obed Lane, which starts where his house stood, was
built so that he could get to the Meeting House. (Andrew R. Scott)

114 S herb or n

There is much to see here but please do not disturb any of
the residents as these are all private homes.

Rockwood Street derives its name from the Rockwood family
whose home, which was situated here, became Sherborn’s Alms-
house in the latter part of the 1800s. In 1934, it was destroyed by
a fire which started from a kerosene lamp. This is one of the dirt
roads in town which affords a beautiful chance for a walk, taking
the traveler back to the way the roads were at the beginning of
this century.

EVERETT STREET

The Road to South Natick and originally part of the Post
Road, Everett Street was named for Dr. Oliver Everett who lived
here when first called to be Sherborn’s physician in 1825.

#14 — This house was built sometime before 1 875 for G.
Martin Coolidge and at that time had a large barn and carriage
house. Sherborn’s constable for the north of town, George Alex-
ander, lived here in the 1920s. (John Nichlasson)

#22 — “The Perry Chamberlain House” was built in the 1860s
for Perry D. Chamberlain, whose blind daughter Grace lived here
until her death. The limb of a tree had been fashioned to lead
from the top of the stairs to the brick-lined shallow well in the
cellar and this was worn smooth by Grace’s many trips to fetch

Area 18

115

water. The present resident of this old Sherborn home is a
descendant of the ancient families who settled Sherborn; the
Holbrooks, Woods and Lelands, as well as the Bullards, Deaths,
Twitchells, Morses and Pratts who were also in Sherborn before
1700. (Alfred H. Lincoln)

#28 — “The Edgar Smith Place” was built by Wetherbee
Chamberlain in the 1 830s. This house has an unusual false entrance-
way at the northwest corner which is symmetrical with the true
door at the northeast corner. A picture taken in 1880 when the
three generations of Smiths lived there, shows a large barn, later
removed. The photo shop to the rear was destroyed by a fire in
1948 which nearly spread to the house. In this shop, Sherborn’s
Master Photographer, Edgar Smith, had been kept busy recording all
of the Town’s affairs from christenings to parades during the last of
the 1800s and into the 1900s. (David Bair)

#31 — This veteran house retains the wide-board floors laid
when it was built in 1830, by the Morses, but one of their descend-
ants later took the original front door to Texas where he had emi-
grated. Horace Barber, who bought the house from the Morses,
was also bitten by the ‘go West, young man’ fever of the 1850s,
and removed his family to Kansas. (Joseph F. Sobieski)

NORTH MAIN STREET was continued to Natick in the
1850s, crossing the quicksand-like marshes of the lowlands.

116 Sherborn

# 106 — Built in 1819 for Joseph Dowse, it was intended to
have a hip roof, but Dowse changed his mind midway through
construction. It retains the slanted casings he had placed over the
windows. It was owned by different families until in 1925, the
Edmund C. Dowse family purchased it, causing the Framingham
News to write, “So in process of time the Dowses come back to
the old time home.” (Dr. Stuart Selikowitz)

#112 — This house built in 1859, by Charles Dort Dowse, is
situated next to the burial ground, and is characterized by a quaint
‘wishing well’ on the lawn. (Robert A. Doucette)

The 21 Mile Stone. Our first Postmaster General, Benjamin
Franklin, had these stones set out along the routes of the stage-
coaches carrying mail, because postage was determined by the dis-
tance a letter or package was carried. Sherborn’s 21 Mile Stone is
situated directly across from the entrance to the Plain Cemetery
and sets forth the distance the coach had ahead of it to travel
over the rutted roads to reach Boston.

Area 18

117

The Plain Cemetery — Situated on Edward’s Plain, this ceme-
tery was laid out in 1792, by a private group called “The Friendly
Society” and cared for by them until it was turned over to the
Town.

#123 — “ The Babcock House ” was built before 1830 by
Amory Babcock, Sr. His son, of the same name, was a famous
naturalist whose collections of mounted birds were donated to
the Wellesley College Museum to best preserve them. Ironically,
that building was soon thereafter leveled by fire. (Thomas
Nealon)

#127 — “Laurel Farm Homestead ” was built in the 1840s
for Samuel Sanger. It's a very solid structure, simple in the style
of the Greek Revival farmhouse period, with wide corner boards,
a typical pediment around the house and a steep pitch roof of
slate. In the kitchen is the old beehive or bake oven, and on a
wall in the dining room under layers of wallpaper was found a

118 Sherborn

painting of “Joe,” a soldier. The Cousineau family settled here
in 1920 and their son, Edward, who envisioned a great farm on
their acres, set out to create one, planting a fruit orchard and
plowing the land for vegetables. After it was opened in 1934,
all of Sherborn met at the Laurel Farm Stand from the time of
the first bunch of asparagus in spring to the last hubbard squash
in the fall. White turkeys raised here to grace the Thanksgiving
tables were in such demand they had to be ordered early in the
season. (Wilford H. Hooper)

Area 19

119

There are only private
homes in this area with
the exception of Sun-
shine Dairy, which serves
luncheon and makes its
own icecream!

Since the 1700s, Coolidge
Street was the main road
to Framingham. It is per-
haps best known for its
black rock cliffs leading
to Peter’s Hill on the east
side. Just to the north of
these there were, in Revo-
lutionary times, deposits
of salt-peter. Jedediah
Phipps, a local resident,
was commended by the
Selectmen for discovering
it, for it was badly needed
in producing ammunition.
Peter’s Hill cliffs rise 50
feet, and through them a
chasm is cut which is
called “The Devil’s Cart-
way,” and adjacent to it is the “Devil’s Oven.”

COOLIDGE STREET

#14 — “ The Holbrook House” was at one time, in the early
1800s, used for a girls’ school under the tutelage of the Widow
Rice. It was built before 1788. Rufus Holbrook bought the place
in 1865 and his son, Herbert, as Fire Chief, supervised the building
of the town’s first fire engine. His big barn, since destroyed, stood
behind the house, and there an old hand-pull pumper still remains.
The last Holbrook, Alberta, died here in the fifties, and the house
stood unoccupied and fell in a state of disrepair until it was pur-
chased in the sixties and restored. (Spiros G. Pantazi)

#108 — This house was builf prior to 1870 by Fordyce P.
Nute. The picturesque weathered barn is situated to the rear of
the house. (Paul A. Mandella)

120 Sherborn

# 121 — “The Coolidge House” was built in the late 1700s by
Deacon Aaron Coolidge, replacing the original homestead. The
Deacon needed room for his fourteen children, one of whom was
Rev. Amos H. Coolidge, a strong divine. This twin-chimney, hip-
roof colonial has a center entrance with a fanlight over the door,
and a mortise and tenon barn constructed with boards more than
two feet wide. (Mrs. Helen T. Clements)

#126 — This place was built for Thomas Russell who married
Hannah Coolidge. Their first child was born in March of 1734,
thus dating the house. Two Road Commissioners have lived here,
Harry Crane and Clarence Gray. When the Coolidges farmed these
acres in the eighteen and early nineteen hundreds, there were ex-
tensive barns attached to the house. Today, a newer detached barn
stands with the beautifully proportioned square colonial home.
(Robert C. Gray)

Area 19

121

KENDALL STREET

Sunshine Dairy is a family business operated by Mr. and Mrs.
James D. Geoghegan. They have produced the best icecream ‘this
side of anywhere’ as well as run a dairy farm and a lunchroom for
many years. Facilities for frozen food lockers were added in 1942
One of the few dairy farms left within our borders, there are 90

cows milked here daily as there have been for 33 years. (James D.
Geoghegan)

#36 — Sunshine Farm ” was moved to its commanding location,
well back from where it originally stood next to the road, by its
present owners in 1938. In one of the great ells which was moved
away and is now their son’s home, there are pine board floors 24
inches wide with ship lap joints of over an inch thickness. The
halls of the main part of the house were found to be stenciled in
blue in a Grecian design. In 1860, Dr. Dennett bought the farm
and lived here with his mother and served as head of the Sherborn
Musical Association. The house was built for Benjamin Kendall
when he married Keziah Leland circa 1732. (James D. Geoghegan)

Sunshine Farm — a School of Horsemanship, is operated by
Kathleen Geoghegan, who passes on a lifetime of working with
horses, including hunting, showing, competitive trail riding, 4-H
and Pony Clubs. She also offers fine preparation for owning your
own horse. (Lawrence and Kathleen Geoghegan)

122 Sherborn

PROSPECT STREET

# 3 — On what was known as ‘the new road to Framingham’
Mrs. Amanda Davis built her home in 1870. This red house with
the large masonry barn at the curve of the road replaced the home
of Cooper Nat Perry who made barrels and casks. (Amato A.
Picardi)

Area 19 123

#20 — “ Tucker Tavern , ” a large square colonial, moved up the
hill from its former roadside site, now has a fine view across to
Peter’s Hill. Built in 1780 for Deacon William Tucker, it served as a
Tavern when it was later owned by Reuben Cozzens. Mr. Cozzens
was murdered and his wife mortally wounded in 1853 “when some
Villain entered his house on the evening of the 14th inst.” The
Selectmen issued posters offering a $300 reward for the apprehen-
sion of the Murderer, “One John L. Chapman is accused by Mrs.
Cozzens of being the person who came into the house on that
evening, and is suspected of being the perpetrator of the above
crime. He is about twenty years old, dark complexioned, and has
dark hair.” The present resident says the tools in the fireplace
swing and clang on the anniversary of the murder in the room
where it occurred. (Joseph W. Valentine)

#36 — This house was built in the 1870s by Amanda Davis,
who was the holder of the Gold Cane, as Sherborn’s oldest citizen
until her death just one day before her ninety-third birthday.

The resident of this balloon-framed house has a diary of a former
resident of the Adams family, with detailed accounts of his life
from 1851. (Richard T. Darby)

#127 — This center entrance colonial was built prior to 1850
and was then known as the “Otis Adams House. ” Rev. Brown, a
minister at King’s Chapel in Boston, farmed this acreage for a num-
ber of years and was the first in the state to pasteurize milk. He
finished a third floor room for his study so that he could look
toward Boston when he composed his sermons. The George Ab-
bots who acquired it in 1930, arrived from Beacon Hill with the
intention of covering the farm with shamrock and raising sheep to
produce famous Irish wool. (Richard Jennett)

#137 — Once a wing on the Adams House (127 Prospect), this
house was moved here in 1943, by Mr. James Geoghegan when he
purchased from the George Abbotts. The end chimney on this
center entrance home still bears Abbott’s initials. (Carlton G.
Webb)

124 Sherborn

The historic landmarks which follow, though now
within the boundaries of the Town of Framingham,
bear witness to two important events of Sherborn' s his-
tory when her territory included them.

The Eames Stone

The Eames Stone 125

THE EAMES STONE

Atop Mount Wayte in Framingham, which was formerly
part of the Town of Sherborn, lies a stone which commemorates
the spot where Indians massacred the Eames family of Sherborn.
Inscribed on the stone is the stark message: “Here stood the home
of Thomas Eames. Burned by the Indians in King Philip’s War,

Feb. 1, 1676. His wife and five children were slain and four car-
ried into captivity. This Memorial is by his Descendants A. D.
1900.”

Thomas Eames had settled his family one autumn on the
side of the mountain where, as his inventory showed, he farmed
on a large scale indeed. According to historian Josiah Temple,
because Eames had settled on what had been the Indians’ summer
camping ground, his fields were ready for the plow from previous
cultivation by squaws, and his meadows were ready for the scythe
from the annual burning by the natives. Thomas was accepted as
an inhabitant of what was to be the Town of Sherborn, and was
the eighteenth signer of their petition, granted in 1674, to become
a town.

About this time, King Philip’s War broke out, which put the
garrisoned homes of Sherborn to full use. Eames had four men
quartered at his isolated house for protection, but these men were
pressed into service and they left to fight the Indians. In the last
week of January, Thomas Eames traveled to Boston to procure help
and ammunition. While he was away, eleven Indians came suddenly
upon the defenseless family. They burned the barn, cattle, and
house, and killed the mother and five of the children, and carried
off four children and such plunder as they could carry.

The escape of the eleven-year-old Samuel from the Indians
is related in an old chronicle: “On May 1 2, a youth made his es-
cape, and though the boy knew not a step of the way to any English
town, and was in continual danger from skulking Indians in the
woods, yet God directed him aright, and brought him in sight of
Plantain (the herb which grows only amongst the English) and ac-
cordingly following of the Plantain he arrived safe amongst us.”
Margaret, the youngest, was found in Canada and redeemed by
the colonial government. Her sister Mary made her escape somehow
to return to Sherborn and marry Abraham Cousins and settle in
West Sherborn.

The Indians who took part in the raid were tracked down and
punished for their misdeeds, and Thomas Eames got the land he
wanted in payment for his great loss. This comprised 200 acres

126 Sherborn

from the town, and an equal acreage from the Indians when he
sued them.

When the Town of Sherborn had its first election of officers,
Thomas Eames was one of the five men elected as Selectmen, in
which position he served for ten years.

Thomas Eames’ sudden death occurred during the controversy
over the situation of the Sherborn Meetinghouse, and his sons join-
ed in the petition to have their area set off as the town of Framing-
ham. This petition was granted in 1700 but Framingham’s south-
ern boundary was not established until 1710, when Sherborn’s
suit for the losses sustained because seventeen taxpaying families
were wrested from the town, was settled against Sherborn. As pay-
ment in full to Sherborn for this loss, however, the Town was
granted 4,000 acres near the town of Mendon. This was known as
New Sherborn until it was incorporated as the town of Douglas in
1786.

Other property of Eames, on Chestnut Brook, now Course
Brook, remained in Sherborn and in the Eames family. Descend-
ants of the Eames family married into many of the Sherborn
families, though the name disappeared here.

The W Stone 127

THE W STONE

A large black oak, called the W tree, from its having that
letter carved upon it, served for a landmark on the line between
Sherborn and Framingham for a long series of years, and is
mentioned in town records as far back as 1683. The wheel
tracks of the two diverging roads formed the letter but perhaps
the real reason for the W was that this spot marked the boundary
of the Wayte Grant, which went north to the Sudbury River.

About 1 800, Galim Bullard had bought the gambrel-roofed
house built not far from the W tree by one of the heirs of
Ephraim Bullen in 1750. (This house stands at 6 Curve Street,
artistically restored.) Galim raised his family here and in May
1822, decided to remove the decayed remains of the W tree,
and replace it with a permanent marker, and incidentally, have a
celebration to commemorate the occasion. Not merely from tradi-
tion, but from actual facts and statements, of all Sherborn celebra-
tions, this one was something outstanding, whether by Galim’s
plan or by happenstance. For it is said that there was set up a
hogshead of New England rum and many barrels of hard cider. In
that day, good rum cost twenty-five cents a gallon. Things got out
of hand, the women and children left, sundry citizens were ducked
in the horse trough and the affair lasted all day until the hogsheads
were empty. These actions strengthened the Temperance move-
ment just then at its beginning in Sherborn and added members to
the Temperance Lodge in great numbers.

The shaft, which is the W Stone, came from Galim’s farm and
is seven and a half feet high. It stands across from the end of
Leland Street, on Irving Street, on land given to the Town of
Framingham in 1924. Galim, who was a stone mason, cut the
large W with the date, May 29, 1 822, below it and his name, Galim
Bullard, at the bottom. He knew about the small stone worked
with a “W” which had been buried in the roadway at the angle of
the boundary decided by the General Court after several years of
contention. In 1709, a fieldstone about three cubic feet in size
had been cut with a “W” and buried in the proper spot by the two
towns. Galim dug it up, cut a duplicate letter on it and reburied
it, placing his great monolith by the roadside, some ten feet dis-
tant from the legal bound.

Charles W. Coolidge, in 1887, “thanks to the creditable man-
ner in which the Sherborn records have been kept” was able to
locate the buried stone and, with the permission of both boards
of Selectmen, caused a plaster cast to be made of it, which he

The W Stone

The W Stone 129

placed in his Framingham Historical Society. He reburied the
stone, placing under it the date and other facts concerning it. He
then cut another inscription on Galim’s roadside monument —
a horizontal line as a line of separation between the two inscrip-
tions, the perpendicular line as a line of separation between the
two towns and the “S” and “F” as their initials.

MERCHANTRY and ANCIENT LOCAL INDUSTRIES

The traditional occupation of agriculture in Sherbom was
soon joined by industries conceived and successfully operated by
the settlers and their descendants. With only a few exceptions,
these businesses were carried on at home with a little shop, usually
situated in a front room of the house or a small building adja-
cent to it, taking care of local sales.

Goods for ‘export’ were carried by horse and wagon to Bos-
ton, and later by stagecoach, which came regularly through Sher-
born. It must have presented quite a sight, when the willow
baskets and baby carriages, caned here, had been hooked onto
every available spot on the coach. These appendages swayed and
bounced as the driver continued on his way along the dirt County
Road to Boston. When the railroad came through Natick, a special
stop was made to meet the stage there.

All that these industrious townspeople needed was the means
to transport the fruits of their labors, for when the Mansfield and
Framingham Railroad was opened through Sherborn in February,
1870, the people already had their plans made to utilize it. Soon
the freight cars full of farm, orchard and bog produce raised in
town were helping to feed the rest of a growing country — and
freight cars full of the ‘purest apple champagne made by man’ were
leaving the mill on Forest Street destined to fill the holds of ships
in Boston Harbor to be received with acclaim in European ports.

Many of these ventures were cut down by the blade of the
advancing machine age or doomed by obsolescence, but their
stories are an integral and fascinating part of our history.

SHERBORN’S OLD GENERAL STORES

When shopping was an excursion that meant hitching up the
horse and wagon, our town easily supported stores in different
ends of town. It wasn’t just a place to buy ‘the necessities’ but
the best spot to gather local news and to discuss the national and
international crisis when the papers finally arrived from Boston
each day. The Post Office occupied a corner of the early stores,
and Mr. Sanger, Mr. Clark, Mr. or Mrs. Hawes or the Jacksons could
be sure of knowing some of your news before you did. The chil-
dren never had to be urged to make the trip, for there was exquisite
delight in standing on one foot, and then the other, as you took

131

1 32 S herb or n

The Clark’s Store

Local Industries 133

as long as you dared to pick out a penny’s worth of candy from
the huge glass-fronted case that towered over you — can’t you hear
the ‘one of those and one of those’?

Down in the north of town, William Clark started his store
and tavern in 1800, next to 84 North Main, and on or near this
site his family continuously kept the store for a hundred years.

His son, Alpheus, took the reins from William, and when grand-
son Charles A. Clark got in the driver’s seat, he introduced the
chain concept to Sherborn by buying the Hawes Store uptown as
well! When they outgrew the small shop in their home, the
Clarks had built a fine store, but at the turn of the century it
was vacant, though not for long. The News noted in March of
1900, that “C. A. Clark’s store will open up again with a fresh
lot of goods and E. Ruthven Paul will go on the route with a
team. Norman Blanchard of Spencer will tend store and keep
the books.” Two months later another announcement was made.
“E. Ruthven Paul has taken charge at C. A. Clark’s. Blanchard
lasted but a few weeks because he said he found Sherborn was
too city-like for him.” Mr. Dingley was the owner of the property
and operating the store when it burned in 1 909.

NEW SPRING GOODS.

THE subscriber bogs leave to announce to bis
friends and customers, that he has recently
purchased a large assortment of desirable

SPRING GOODS,

Adapted to their wants, consisting of various
styles of

LADIES DRESS AND HOUSE-KEEP-
ING GOODS, GLOVES, HOSIERY,
SUMMER STUFFS, Ac., Ac.

I have also added a greater variety to my
stock of

BOOTS AND S11.0ES,

of go*d style and quality, and of

GENTLEMEN’S FURNISHING GOODS

AND

Ready Made Clothing.

My stock is larger than formerly .selected with
caro, and bought unusually low.

My assortment of the usual varieties to be
found at such establishments, is complete.

Every article will be sold as low as can b«
purchased elsewhere in this vicinity, for cash,
or short approved credit.

GEORGE CLARK.
Bherborn, May 1st, 1856.

SHERBORN VARIETY STORE-

rrilE subscriber would tender his grateful ac-
JL knowlodgments to tho citizens of Sherborn,
for their past patronage, and hopes, by constant
attention to business, to merit a continuance of
tho same. He has added to his former stock of

GROCERIES, HARDWARE,
CROCKERY, PAINTS, OIL, GLASS AND
FAMILY MEDICINES,

An Assortment of Staple Dry Goods,

Adapted to the approaching season. To all
in want of the abovo, he would respectfully say,

Just look into my iittlo place.

I’ll treat you kind with “honest grace/*

It’s full of Goods such as you need,

And prices, too, are fair, indeed.

I’ll give you Credit when desired,

Nor drive you hare ’till I’m required,

Then come and see my “Uncle’s Cabin,”
You’ll not repent, you’ll find a bargain,

THOMAS J. MORSE,
Opposite Bickford’s Hall, South St.,

SHERBORN, Mass, [

134 Sherborn

The Sanger family were merchants in Boston and New York,
and it came naturally for Captain Samuel to open a shop, in the
middle of the 1700s, at his sprawling Tavern, which stood at about
5 North Main Street, utilizing one of its eleven doors for patrons.
His son, Colonel Calvin, had already opened his own store when
he was appointed Sherborn’s first Postmaster in 1818, and incor-
porated the few post boxes into the store (12 Washington Street).
Another son, Joseph, built his home opposite his father’s, where
the Dowse Memorial Building now stands. To the south of it, on

Jackson’s Store

the present lawn, he erected an imposing building, fronted with a
seven-arched porch, two double doors and three of the new-style,
large-paned windows, a most elegant building for his store. Joseph
had specified a hip roof, so that the second floor afforded a com-
modious hall lighted across the front by five windows, boasting
twelve over twelve panes. When this was built at the start of the
1 800s, there was only the small Meetinghouse for a gathering
place, and there were some things that you just couldn’t hold
there. Hence, this hall caused much excitement and was in great
demand.

As Joseph aged, his son Elbridge took over the lucrative
business. A ‘Fairbanks’ scale for weighing wagonloads of produce,
hay, and grain had been installed north of the entrance before

Local Industries 135

Jeremiah Hawes bought the business about the middle of the
century. Jeremiah was appointed Postmaster in 1855 and here
the Post Office was housed for most of the next 50 years.

In 1 888, the stock and trade of this general store in the Cen-
tral Village was purchased by Charles A. Clark, storekeeper at
North Main Street, and his brother George continued running it
as he had been doing for the Hawes. This fine landmark burned
in 1920.

The Paul Store, which was run by Captain Daniel in conjunc-
tion with his Tavern, was flourishing when he bought the property
(41 North Main Street) in 1824, and continued until 1860 as a
general store, selling not only grocery and food supplies but also
dry goods, shoes, and hardware. The store area was also the en-
trance to “The Sheldon Tavern” and the Room Clerk’s Desk was
here. Outside on the porch, which ran the length of the building,
was a bench, for resting. Visitors tied their horses to any of the
porch posts.

The Post Office had already been moved to the new building
in the fork of Washington and South Main Streets in 1 900, and old
Jeremiah Hawes’ grandson, Alfred, home from a trip to Africa,
kept up the tradition of storekeeping and mail-sorting. At this time
in the south of town, Mrs. Larkin had a small store in her home
(151 South Main Street) and people still recall buying delicious
home-made bread there.

John Jackson and Michael Levine opened a store in 1911,
in the barn of John’s home next to the Pilgrim Church. The part-
nership lasted but a short time, and Mr. Levine built a store with
living quarters on the second floor (92 South Main). He combined
this business with truck gardening and was able to send his chil-
dren, when they graduated from Sawin Academy, to Harvard and
Wellesley College.

Mr. Jackson and his son, John C., had chosen to open their
store where Thomas J. Morse had operated a small variety shop
in 1856, and here Jackson’s Store, at first called Sherborn’s
Cash Store, served all of the town, until the place was sold to the
Chevron Company in the sixties. John and his wife Belle, along
with their store and its gas pumps out front, became an institution
in town. In 1938, when Johnny was appointed Postmaster, the
inevitable combination was continued, and the Post Office was
moved into Sherborn’s popular sundries store.

136 Sherbom

ROPEBRAIDING

Sewell’s Meadow was most suitable for the rearing of hemp.
One of the first Hopestill Lelands resided next to it, after his
marriage to Mary Bullard in 1681, and raised a goodly portion of
hemp. This he manufactured into ropes and halters, which he
annually carried to Rhode Island and exchanged for wool.

TANNERIES, WHIPMAKING AND SHOE MANUFACTORIES

Because of the good swampy land to the east of Everett Street
with tillable farm land adjoining, the Dowse family came as settlers
to Sherborn during the Revolutionary War. The swampland was
a requisite in leather dressing and Eleazer was from a family of
leather dressers. With his sons, he dug the pits in the wet ground
in which the hides were soaked as part of the tanning process.
Horses were used for power in grinding the bark before the hides
were hung up to dry. There were many in town in this trade, and
the making of whips which grew out of it, but the Dowse brothers
were perhaps the master whipmakers. Many homes had shops
where they sold the well-balanced whips which had been made
there. These were fashioned from a continuous piece of leather,
skilfully cut and braided by hand into a ‘lash’ measuring as long
as 20 feet from the wooden stock, well able to reach the lead
pair of horses in any stagecoach. The last order for one of these
was received in 1876, from Minnesota, where they were still using
stagecoaches.

Those Boots and Shoes at the
Post Office.

TIIE subscriber would improve this favorable
opportunity to modestly speak of his wares,
consisting of an assortment of BOOTS and
SHOES of good quality, which he offers at rea-
sonable prices. Also, Boots and Shoos MADE
TO ORDER from tho bcBt of stock. Having
had considerable experience in tho selection of
stock, he flatters himsolf the confidence of the
publio may bo safely given.

§57” Cobbling done with neatness and dis-
patch.

Acknowledging past favors, soliciting a con-
tinuance of the same, the conclusion of the
whole matter is loft In your hands, vix. : shall
I llvo by my craft 1

N. B. — A speedy answer Is desired.

H. W. BULLARD,

No. 1 J. C. Balibury’s Block.
Sherborn, May 1st, 1866.

JAMES BULLARD,

D! ALI'.R IN

Boots a n <1 Shoes.

Will buy and make liberal cash advances on
Goods consigned.

Good Endorsed Notes payablo in Banks, dis-
counted at street rates.

Sherborn, May 1st, lSofi.

Local Industries 137

For whipmaking, not trusting any other tannery to prepare
the hides, the Dowses bought the old horses, killed and skinned
them, and tanned the leather themselves. However, when shoes
were to be the product and much more leather required, John
Burke on Forest Street took over that phase of the business.

Though ‘Tanglewood Farm,’ which he named his place, is not
remembered, the great meadow which he farmed on the Pond
side of Forest Street will always be known as Burke’s Plain.

Sherborn men produced more than their share of hand-
made, pegged shoes with the sheepskin lining sewn in by women
in their homes. A dozen small shoe shops were located in town,
but the two largest were those of Nathaniel Dowse and Lowell
Coolidge, both at Dowse’s Corner. In 1850, Nathaniel branched
out into the burgeoning shoe business. He built a three-story
shop in the fork of the road formed by Coolidge and North Main
Streets, and here he employed 20 men to make, entirely by hand,
the heavy work shoe called a plow shoe or ‘Brogan.’ Hand-powered
machines and later, foot treadles, were introduced, increasing
production. The plow shoe was sold mainly for use on southern
plantations and, when the Civil War cut off the market, Mr. Dowse
kept the shop running and stored the finished product. The result
was that in 1870, one of his sons was sent South with a freight-car
load of shoes and the admonition that “You are expected home
when you sell the shoes.”

Other Sherborn people made their livelihood here, and built
their homes nearby: Church, Green, Drake, Guryn, Revere, Morse
Spinney, Ordway, Lyle and Naphen. Lowell Coolidge was appren-
ticed here, and then built his own shop (next to 93 North Main
Street).

The increase in automated machinery gradually spelled the
demise of the small shoe industries in New England, and Coolidge’s
son made the last shoe in his shop in 1908. This building was
moved to Holliston to be a home. The Dowse Shoe Manufactory
had been burned the year before.

EDGE TOOLS MANUFACTORY

The Stone House at 55/53 North Main Street, was Capt.
Partridge’s manufactory for edge tools. He lived on the hill at
5 1 North Main Street. This ingenious and inventive man, working
with his brother-in-law Malachi Babcock, who had his blacksmith
shop next door, perfected a process to obtain a very high quality
steel in the late 1700s. This they fashioned into adzes, knives,

138 Sherborn

axes, plows and elastic forks for moving hay or manure. The Par-
tridge Fork is in many New England Tool museums as well as the
Sherborn Historical Society.

Local Industries 139

PAINT MAKING

Sherborn’s homes were built of wood with few exceptions,
and the thrifty yankee spirit used gallons of paint to preserve them.
Many a second or third son, who was not inheriting the family
farm, earned his living as a painter. The town supported a paint
shop run by James C. Salisbury, which stood behind the parking
lot near Memory Statue. The building he used for mixing paint
had been moved there from the site of the Town House and had
formerly been a private school. The combustible nature of the
ingredients of the paint caused the building’s demise, as it did
another paint shop in town, one run by Mr. Shaw, who had rented
the vacated shoe manufactory of Nathaniel Dowse. When the
building burst into flames, Mr. Dowse ran out with his camera and
recorded the event. After that, one of the old schools was moved
to Zions Lane and run as a paint shop by a young man who had
captured the heart of Emily Fleming and settled in town when he
married her.

Fire at Dowse’s Corner - 1907

140 Sherborn

The master painters were called upon to practice their art on
the many beautiful carriages built in town and their gilt scrollwork
equaled any their brother artists were applying on the clipper
ships at Salem.

CARRIAGE SHOPS AND BLACKSMITHING

The Village Smithy always had a goodly amount of horse shoe-
ing to do and our village usually supported two, one in the center
of town, and one in the original settlement or south part of town.

It was the blacksmith who also made much of the hardware used in
the houses, as well as the iron fittings for the carriages, fashioning
each piece by hand.

At the anvil next his home (156 South Main Street), James
Holbrook plied his trade at the close of the seventeen and into the
eighteen hundreds, and, no doubt, he kept his brother’s - in - law
carriages in good repair and his horses well shod, for Dr. Jonathan
Tay (266 Western Avenue) was much on the road.

At a busy shop, which stood in town where the parking lot
lies next to the Memory Monument, Elbridge Bickford fired up

1\ M. BICKFORD,

Blacksmith,

/’OULD return his thanks to the citizens of
Sherborn and vicinity, for their very lib-
eral patronage the past year, and he hopes by
strict attention to his business, to merit the
continuance of their favors.

lie would just say that he continues the Car-
riage business, Spring making, Horse and Ox*
Shoeing, and Jobbing of all kinds.

Sherborn, May 1st, 1856.

R. P. HOLBROOK,

Horse SteUote

Carriage Ironing

SHERBORN. MASS.

A Card to the Public.

THE undersigned, feeling grateful to the
public for their liberal patronage in times
past, takes this opportunity to thank his nu-
merous customers for former favors, and hopes,
by promptness and dispatch, and continued ap-
plication to business, to merit a good share of
patronage.

TO WHEELWRIGHTS.

The undersigned has constantly on hand and
for sale a great variety of Wheelwright Stock,
consisting in part of Hubs, Spokes, Felloes,
Shafts, <tc. Also, Sawing and Turning done
to order. N. B. — Particular attention given
to Jobbing.

The rest of my story (like a sailor’s yarn)
is soon told. To all those who have Cariiages,
rickety and old, I will candidly advise you
(gratis) what to do : Call on tho subscriber and
he’ll make them good as new.

Como one, come all , little and great, she rt and
tall ,

I’m fond of company (and your money), give
us a call.

VORESTFS WARE.

Sherborn, May 1st, 1856.

Local Industries 141

his iron to red-hot heat, and, when the mighty man gave up his
trade, Rufus Holbrook’s sinewy hands took over. The singing ham-
mer continued here until 1910, as did the one on Powder House
Lane, which Mr. Anderson of 30 North Main operated. Malachi
Babcock’s resonant voice raised in song to the accompaniment of
his hammering delighted the children in the Plain School across
the way on North Main Street, beyond the Stone House.

There were three noteworthy carriage-making shops in town,
forerunners of General Motors later to be on our border. Charles
Duross had one at his home on Obed Lane, and Jeremiah Butler,
wheelwright, was handy, down the road at 5 Butler Street, When
Eliot Street was laid out close to the rear of his house, Duross
solved the problem its elevation above his barn presented, by
building a bridge for the carriages from the new road to the sec-
ond floor of his shop. The door he cut ten feet above the present
driveway still bears witness to his ingenuity. (29 Eliot Street)

Another carriage shop was located in the Post Office building,
at the fork of the town’s two main roadways. It was on the second
floor, too! This building had a steep ramp at the rear, and it took
steady pushing to get the carriages up through the great door. It
did have the convenience of a blacksmith shop right across the
street for the repair work and the fashioning of all the iron parts
of a new wagon.

Vorestus Ware had the best set-up of all on Goulding Street
with a complex of his carriage shop, and wheelwright shop and
blacksmith shop. Everything could be done right on the premises,
even to the forging of the iron rims for the wagon wheels. His
elegant home, which was destroyed by a great fire at the first of
this century, stood on the site of 52 Goulding Street behind gran-
ite posts strung with iron chains, similar to those of his father-in-
law at 5 Butler Street. “And every man shall suffer sorrow,” came
to Vorestus when his first-born son was drowned in Sewell’s Brook.

WHEEL JACK

Wheels on carriages often had to be replaced and it was a
nasty job at best. Andrew Jackson Church who had built a home
for his bride at 1 Coolidge Street, invented a very successful car-
riage wheel jack. Though it wasn’t manufactured here, it brought
some fame to the town and considerable income to Andrew.

142 Sherborn

View from steeple of Unitarian Church in 1870s. Ramp to carriage
shop on second floor of Post Office shows at rear of building.
Leland Monument is at left, #55 South Main Street is at right.

Mt w

Local Industries 143

COFFIN DESIGNER

Across the street from the Stone House, Amasa Green lived
at 54 North Main Street. Amasa was known not so much for his
carpentry work, which he did passing fair, as for his coffin making.
Therefore, the north side of the house has full-height basement
doors and windows which opened into his shop. One historian has
noted that his work was customized to size and six-sided.

A I, ARG E number of lots in Pine Hill Cem-
etery have been laid out, and are now
ready for sale. They arc variously situated —
in the open fit Id — in the deep wood— in the
dell — and upon the rising ground — so that the
tastes of all may be suited in the selection of
a family grave. Inquire of

On Pleasant Street, Silas Stone, Esquire, in the late 1700s, in-
vented and manufactured a surgical truss for which he obtained a
patent. His son of the same name who was also an ‘inventive gen-
ius with an uncommon knowledge of books,’ continued producing
his father’s invention which was highly praised by the medical
profession.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

FOR SAL 15.

JAMES BULLARD,
See. and Treas. of Association.

Bherborn, May 1st, 1856.

TRUSS

A. H. BLANCHARD,

PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON,

SIIEllBOim. MASS.

Shcrborn, Mu; let, 1850.

144 Sherborn

CANNING COMMERCIALLY

Every Sherborn housewife knew about canning, and had no
choice but to be in the steaming kitchen processing the fruits of
garden and orchard for the coming winter. Each had a specialty
with which she might expect to take a prize at the Grange Fair —
the sparkling clear jelly made with Sherborn’s own pectin-laden
Porter apple or the garnet red pickled beets. There was great
interest, then, when the irrepressible James Salisbury added to
his cider and paint business, behind the blacksmith shop next
to Memory Statue, a commercial canning industry! He preserved
tomatoes in cans for a short time, but, come August, the ladies
were still steaming in their kitchens. The foundations of his
buildings can still be traced behind the parking lot.

COTTON MILL

This venture by Sherborn men was situated in that part of
Framingham known as Saxonville because this was where Hope-
still Leland was able to buy of Ebenezer Brown what was known
as The Deacon Brown privilege on Cochituate Brook’ where he
erected the cotton mill. Hopestill, with Colonel Sanger and
others, organized the Framingham Manufacturing Company in
1814, when Leland sold the six acres with corn and grist mill to
the new company. He lived near this business, which was never
a great success, but later returned to Sherborn.

GRIST MILLS

About 1710, Joseph Ware (43 Goulding Street), an able and
enterprising man, in company with Captain Joseph Morse (46
Forest Street) built the first grist mill on Sewell’s Brook. Captain
Ware’s slave, Duty, was a better miller than Captain Morse could
hire, and secured all the business, causing Captain Morse to with-
draw from the partnership.

Jonathan Holbrook, who was to gain fame because of his
cider mill, practiced his trade as a miller for many years, and built
a dam across Sewell’s Brook at Forest Street. Here, as the road
starts to rise towards Lake Street, he built his grist mill, and op-
erated it even after he started the refining operations in one of
the ells in 1 853. The building and dam were both torn down in
the 1890s, because the cider business was all-demanding and be-
sides commercially ground flour was available.

Local Industries 145

SAWMILLS and TRUNNEL MILL

Thomas Sawin built our first sawmill at Course Brook on
Brush Hill Road, and provided wood for the building of the first
church edifice. He then removed his milling to the northern end
of Little Pond, in South Natick, where he maintained a grist and
sawmill for the Indians. Isaac Cozzens had his sawmill in about
the same place on Course Brook in the middle 1880s. James Le-
land built a dam across the Brown Meadow Brook to form Mill
Pond and produce water power to run a mill which he set a-straddle
the brook as it crossed Mill Street (thereafter so called), and three
generations of James Lelands operated it, until it burned in 1920.
The resourceful James erected a new mill closer to the source of
supply, and electrically powered.

On the upper dam of Mill Pond, Alex Barker built his small
mill for the manufacture of trunnels, or tree nails, used in old
mortise and tenon construction.

The mill on Sewell’s Brook at Goulding Street was converted
to a sawmill by a Ware descendant in the 1 800s. The framework
for a large up-and-down saw is identifiable among the foundation
remains near the dam.

146 Sherborn

JAMES F. LELAND

DEALER IN

PINE, OAK, CHESTNUT, SPRUCE AND HEMLOCK

LUMBER

..Cedar Shingles..

WOOD AiiTlI’llKR.

All. LATIIItOI', to his friends and pa-
* trons of Sherborn, acknowledges
his obligations for their liberal patronage
during hi* Mijmirn among them, and soli-
cits the renewal of the same, trusting that by
experience and observation, with close appli-
cation, he may prove himself worthy ol the
trust.

Sherborn, May 1st, 1866.

WILLOW WEAVERS

The Rev. John Fleming came to Sherborn in 1848, and upon
his retirement from the ministry, he joined his brothers in the
establishment of a willow industry which was to flourish in town
for nearly 50 years. The Flemings had learned their trade in Eng-
land and had brought with them a special type of tree called ‘osier’
which grew best in a damp place. Their principal crop came from

JOHN Fleming,

MANUFACTURER OF

| WiLLOY/ CRADLES, CHAIRS,
CARRIAGES, &C.,

j May 1st, 1856. SHERBORN, MASS.

the area behind our present shopping center. Two of the houses
built by the Flemings (18 and 58 Maple Street) incorporated a
feature far more attractive to their original owners than to sub-
sequent ones, for they were purposely situated astride a brook!
The long willow shoots were soaked to make them supple for
weaving and the brook supplied plenty of running water in the
basement workrooms. Baskets of all sizes, from small trinket

Local Industries 147

boxes to large shipping hampers, were their main stock in trade.

One of their apprentices, a Mr. Hayward, was interested in pro-
ducing larger items such as baby carriages and furniture, but the
Flemings weren’t partial to the idea. Mr. Hayward then joined
with a Mr. Wakefield to found the company which bore their com-
bined names, and gained fame as the producers of rattan furniture.
In Sherborn’s Historical Society are two Fleming cradles, one a
twin cradle made for Ida and Gertrude Fleming who were born at
37 South Main Street, in the 1870s.

STRAW HATS AND BASKETS

Palemon Bickford had a straw manufactory built for him by
Sherborn’s master builder, Bowen Adams, in 1855, next to what
is now the parking area across from the Pilgrim Church. He pro-
duced all manner of goods woven in straw, but specialized in hats,
of every conceivable size and shape. Though his business was
short-lived, his building was not and, converted into a hall, served
the townspeople till 1959, when it was moved to 17 North Main
Street, to become a charming home.

THE GUN-MAKING MASTERS

Thomas Holbrook was Sherborn’s first gunsmith, whose finely
made fowling pieces were used by the Revolutionary soldiers.

Those of his guns which exist today are prized collectors’ pieces.
Thomas was born February 1, 1747, and built his home at the
time of his marriage in 1781, just north of 37 South Main Street.
This house is situated at 9 1 South Main Street, whither it was
moved in 1 896. Thomas Holbrook served as Selectman for eleven
years before he moved to South Natick.

Lemuel Leland, Master Gun Maker, was born at 104 Wood-
land Street in 1786. His Gun Shop was situated on Indian Brook
where it crosses North Main Street just north of his home (7 1
North Main Street). His firearms compared favorably with the
famed Pennsylvania Rifles, and, with many apprentices which in-
cluded his sons, he produced pieces which became well-known and
much sought after in all parts of our country. They were renowned
for their accuracy in long distance shooting and for the workman-
like manner in which they were made. All made by hand, the
stocks of curly maple or black walnut were embellished with
decorative inlays of brass, polished steel and even silver. Guns
with “Lemuel Leland” engraved in the barrel are prized possessions
in Sherborn today.

148 Sherborn

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Local Industries 149

Lemuel Leland Fowling Piece - 75 inches overall. Dated 1817.

Every home had its guns, and sons were taught respect for
them at an early age. Both men and boys prided themselves on
their marksmanship, but it was usual at the ‘Turkey Shoots’ on
Thanksgiving Day that the owner of a Lemuel Leland fowling piece
would take home the gobbler. This traditional shoot is still enjoyed
today, though fowling pieces are replaced by shotguns, and Tom
Turkey by targets. Many of Leland’s smooth bores had exceedingly
long barrels, measuring, with the stock, nearly six feet — probably
accounting for their accuracy but requiring skill in handling.

Those who had apprenticed to Lemuel Leland carried their
skill to many other areas, but one of his sons, William, born in
1817, settled on the Old Badcock Place (46 Pleasant Street where
his descendants, the Hildreths, still live). Here Bill Gun, called
thus to distinguish him from another William Leland, devoted
much of his time and skill to ‘changing over’ flintlocks to percus-
sion firing. Also many Boston firms sent parts of guns for assem-
bling and customizing. As a result, there are even fewer pieces
with “William Leland” engraved in the barrel than with “Lemuel
Leland.”

150 Sherborn

Only Shrewsbury gained as much fame as Sherborn as a gun-
smithing town. The historian Morse shows us that even there,
Sherborn was involved because John Mason of Shrewsbury, noted
for his rifle barrels, came to Sherborn to get a wife and married
Betsey Ware who’d been born here in December of 1777!

THE CIDER MANUFACTORY

Sherborn supported more than twenty cider mills produc-
tive enough to be taxed in the 1 800s, but the greatest success
story of the country in the cider mill business was written by
Jonathan Holbrook in his mills on Forest Street, which he founded
in 1853.

The process for pressing cider was similar in many of the small
mills in town, with the machinery for grinding the apples run by one
horse. The pomace was pressed by a large iron screw which was
worked by hand. One pressing consisted of twelve alternate layers
of rye straw and pomace, about 75 bushels of apples being used at
one time. Forty-eight hours was required and the yield was three
gallons of cider. The early refining tubs or leaches were made from
molasses hogsheads of 30-gallon capacity.

In 1856, new buildings with cellars for the grinding machinery
were built, which increased the mill’s capacity to 500 barrels during

Refining Room

background. (P. McCarthy)

Local Industries 151

152 Sherborn

the seven-week season from October first to mid-November. By
1859, the business had increased to 1200 barrels, and a branch was
established in Albany, New York.

You will enjoy

McCarthy products

SHAWMUT Ginger Ale— Lemon and Lime-Sarsaparilla-Orangeade, etc.
MCCARTHY’S Refined Sweet Cider.

We are Bottlers and Distributors in this vicinity for

DR. SWETT’S Original Root Beer and WARD’S Orange Crush.

If you find the least difficulty buying McCARTHY’S Products
write or telephone us* We will arrange delivery.

P. McCarthy & Son, : : South Sherborn, Mass.

Telephones: Natick 637-W — Beach (Boston) 1954

During these first fifteen years of operation, the nearest rail-
road was five miles away in Natick and the entire output of the
mill had to be transported by horse-drawn wagons over dirt roads.

A proposal had been presented for a railroad from Framingham to
Mansfield, to pass through West Sherborn. Mr. Holbrook financed
a survey for a line which would pass nearer the centers of the towns
and within feet of his mill. The route was shorter and, since it
represented a saving to the railroad of $50,000, it was adopted.
Appropriately enough, the first freight train coming into town was
loaded with apples for Holbrook’s Mill.

The railroad was an important factor in the further expansion
of the business. It was now possible to ship directly to New York,
and apples could be shipped in from greater distances. It was no
longer necessary to keep the Albany branch, and the consolidation
led to further expansion of the buildings. A fifteen-horsepower
engine was installed, and soon was replaced with a forty-horsepower
one.

One of the buildings contained huge vats filled with fine sand
through which the cider was leached. Carloads of apples were run
onto scales; the apples shoveled into the basement of the building;
the cars weighed again and then moved forward to make room for

Local Industries 153

the next car. The apples were conveyed to the grinding rooms above
at the rate of 1 200 bushels in forty minutes. The mill was operated
on a twenty-four-hour day during the peak season with some forty
men on a shift.

The pomace was found to be an excellent cattle food, and so
was shipped out to farmers all over New England. In 1886, the
new storehouse measured 365 feet by 65 feet, and was just one of
a complex of buildings. The capacity reached over 30,000 barrels
a year and offices were opened abroad with approximately one
third of the output going to Great Britain where it was known as
‘Holbrook’s Champagne Cider.’ Larger amounts went to Belgium,
Denmark and Sweden with the remainder shipped as far west as
Nebraska and as far south as Texas. This mill was called ‘The
World’s Largest Cider Mill.’

Fire decimated the older buildings on the east side of the
tracks, and in 1 909 Jonathan’s son, Eben, sold the business to
P. McCarthy and Son. They installed automation and added a line
of soft drinks trademarked ‘Shawmut’ and known, in the birth of
this industry, as ‘tonic.’

In 1919, Mr. McCarthy replaced the horse-drawn wagons with
a fleet of Reo Speed Trucks, but the process for making the cider
was still as meticulously carried out and ‘McCarthy’s Sparkling
Cider’ was what everyone wanted. As was traditional in town, the
business passed from father to son and was operated by Charles
E. McCarthy, Sr., until the advent of World War II.

...HIGHLAND FRUIT FARM...

SPECIA LX I El S

Boiled and Refined Cider I

Cider Vinegar

Canned Apple

GGGG GC*C<G €«§€€ C? SS

UNFERMENTED GRAPE JUICE

J. EAMES & SONS

SHERBORN, MASS.

154 Sherborn

THE OLD ICE HOUSE

In recent years through each Spring, Summer and Fall, we
are accustomed to see on Farm Pond many sailboats either grouped
for racing, or just collectively enjoying a pleasant sail, while at the
water’s edge on the west side, many swimmers are active. Little do
we reflect on the many years back, even up to 1928, when, in
wintertime, ice-cutting was a busy Sherborn industry. Today, in
Winter, the Pond is often dotted with skaters and a few hardy folk
fishing through the ice.

Farm Pond Ice Field

The original ice house was built by Joseph Walter Barber (the
grandfather of Sarah Sparhawk). In the late 1800s, Mr. George
Henry Clark, a Sherborn resident, purchased the ice house and some
surrounding land. As the demand for this clear, clean ice increased,
Mr. Clark gradually enlarged the size of the ice house. The house
itself can be described as a box within a box, having a 1 2-inch space
between the walls which was filled with sawdust as insulation.

Ice cutting began around Christmas time, but not until Grand-
mother Clark, noted in these parts as an unfailing weather prophet,
gave the word that the ice was from ten to twelve inches thick, and
a good long cold spell was ahead.

Local Industries 155

Clark’s Ice House

First, the ice field had to be marked off, starting close to
shore and cut about one inch deep in perfect squares. These lines
then were gone over by an ‘ice plow’ which, after several passes,
cut the markings several inches deeper. At that point, hand saws
had to be employed. Each ice cake measured 32 inches by 22
inches by 12 inches and weighed about 250 to 275 pounds.

A kind of box-like structure was put over two ice cubes at a
time and was attached to a long wire cable that ran through a pulley
fastened on shore. Horses pulled the cable; up the ‘run’ came the
blocks of ice into the house. After the top layer of ice was in place
near the roof, meadow hay (“no seeds”) was piled on thick.

This heavy work, done by hand, required from 15 to 18 men
(at $2.00 each per day) but eventually the work force was reduced
in number by introduction of a Kurtz motorized ice plow weighing

156 Sherborn

600 pounds (“lighter than horses”), by a 32-inch circular saw pow-
ered by a gasoline motor, and by a winch which replaced horses.

On the night before the Fourth of July, in 19 10, a young out-
of-town man set fire to the ice house. He was found and he con-
fessed. His father paid Mr. Clark $6,000 to erect a new building.
Work began at once on a new structure which was built in three
sections, each 50 feet by 20 feet by 20 feet high, and each covered
by asbestos on the outside.

One day in January 1925, a big section of ice gave way and
precipitated six horses into twelve feet of water. The men were
able to keep the horses’ heads above water and by cutting the har-
ness and other entanglements, and also by cutting a channel through
the ice to the shore, the rescue was effected. During the mixup
Harold D. Waite was knocked into the water and rescued with
considerable difficulty.

Cutting Ice on Farm Pond

In a good year, the Clark family harvested 3,000 tons of ice,
but by the end of July, at least one third of the original total har-
vest had melted. The net 2,000 tons of ice was sold in the course
of a year at 30 cents per hundredweight.

During the last six years of their operation, the Clarks bought
artificial ice from concerns out of town. As electric refrigerators
became more numerous in Sherborn, the Clarks stopped all opera-
tions. In 1938, the old ice house collapsed in the hurricane and
the property was sold to Mr. Henry Channing.

Local Industries 157

Recollection of those days when Mr. Clark and his sons,
George and Raymond, delivered ice around most of the town on
Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and to West Sherbom on
Tuesdays and Fridays, brings us a touch of nostalgia.

WATCH REPAIRING

Though the sun and weather regulated a farmer’s life, he
demanded that his watch keep second-perfect time, and all suits
and work pants were made with a ‘watch pocket,’ which became
quite worn with the large, round ticker being pulled out on the
end of its chain, cupped in the hand for perusal and slid carefully
back. Trainmen kept to a rigid schedule and their lives depended
on an accurate timepiece.

Sherborn had watch repairmen as did other towns but per-
haps the best known one in the area, and out of it, was Emerson
Holden of Maple Street. When he wasn’t skippering the ‘Atlanta’
on Farm Lake or tending to his other jobs, he repaired watches and
did such a fine job that men sent their watches for cleaning, ad-

DONT

Pay * Fancy * Prices.

Watches Cleaned and Oiled

IN TIIE BEST MANNER POSSIBLE FOU
-75 CENTS.

NEW MAIN SPRINGS

75 CE3NTTB.

Other work at low prices and

WARRAMTD BY

J. E. HOLDEN, 90!) Main St.

Sherborn, Mass.

justment or repair to the ‘Expert at Sherborn’ from as far away as
the Canadian border. Inheriting a watch today you may find his
initials cut inside the back cover, where he kept a record of his
work.

OX YOKES and SLEDS

Dexter Amsden lived in the second house built by the settler
Thomas Holbrook near the Charles River. He was noted for the ox
yokes he fashioned and which were in great demand. Almost every

158 Sherborn

Sherborn farmer had a pair of oxen for the heavy farm work and
for pulling a plough through the heavy snow. Dexter’s sleds were
of superior workmanship, too, and of any size you desired, from
one you could tuck the baby in, up to the size of a pung to be
pulled by a high-stepping horse. Most of these were plain wooden
ones, but Dexter turned out a few elaborate ones with iron
embellishments.

COAL SIFTERS

Blacksmith John Parent was situated near the Railroad depot
and also, more important, near the sheds of the Coal Company. He
found a ready market for the coal sifter which he designed and
made. W. D. Anderson later took over the blacksmith shop.

THE SOCIETIES OF THE TOWN OF SHERBORN
THEN AND NOW

The American Legion

The American Red Cross

The Community School Association

The Council on Aging

The Couples Club

St. Theresa’s Activity Association

Sherborn Democratic Town Committee

Sherborn Fire Fighters’ Association

Sherborn Forest & Trail Association

The Friendly Society

Friends of the Library

The Sherborn Grange

Sherborn Historical Society

Independent Order of Good Templars

Sherborn League of Women Voters

Sherborn Lions Club

Sherborn Musical Association

Pilgrim Church Women’s Club

Sherborn Players

Sherborn Republican Town Committee
Sherborn Review Club and Sherborn Literary Club
The Village Improvement Association of Sherborn
Women’s Alliance of First Parish Church
Widows’ and Orphans’ Benevolent Society
The Sherborn Yacht Club

4-H

Camp Fire Girls
Girl Reserves
Sherborn Boy Scouts
Sherborn Girl Scouts
Sherborn Ski Team
Sherborn Swim Team

159

1 60 Sherborn

THE AMERICAN LEGION

The William A. Bosworth Post 237, American Legion, of Sher-
born, is the local branch of the National American Legion. Char-
tered in December 1919, the Sherborn Post has operated continu-
ously in the support of local civic and patriotic activities and in the
interest of veterans’ welfare, especially those hospitalized and
disabled. Legion quarters are maintained on Maple Street at the
corner of Green Lane and membership is open to all who served
during periods of war or armed conflict. A letter to the American
Legion, Sherborn, will get proper attention.

The original charter contained 38 names:

William A. Bosworth
Francis F. Berry
James J. Berry
Frederick D. Blanchard
Michael Bresnahan
Lyman F. Brown
Harold E. Burke
Fred C. Carter
George P. Carter
William A. Carter
George H. Clark
Lloyd A. Cummings
Waldo L. Daniels
Edmund C. Dowse
Marshall F. Dowse
Dennis J. Driscoll
Joseph H. Fisk
B. A. G. Fuller
Sears Fuller

Nathan Grout
Harold Heffron
Herbert R. Holbrook
James S. Howe
John C. Jackson
Edward F. Lane
Daniel J. Lyons
John A. MacLean
George E. Mann
Ralph C. Moore
Edward L. Newman
Francis A. Newman
Swen Nyberg
Philip L. Peckham
Ovilla P. Plouffe
Percy 0. Plouffe
R. Melvin Sias
N. Snyder
Lloyd E. West

The Auxiliary Unit of the Post, composed of relatives of
Legion members, was formed in September of 1920 and fifteen
names appear on its charter:

Bertha Carter
Agnes J. Fisk
Carrie E. Clark
Elizabeth Nyberg
Alberta Holbrook

Emma Moore
Nellie M. Dowse
Emily A. Newman
Blanche Blanchard
Mary Fuller

Edith J. MacFarland
Ethel M. Mann
Dorothy Moore
Annabelle McLean
Annie L. Burke

Their concentration is service to others and one of their annual
efforts is to collect gifts at Christmas time to take to a veteran’s
hospital for those patients unable to shop for gifts for their families.

Societies 161

AMERICAN RED CROSS

During World War I, when Sherborn put forth such effort in
her Red Cross work that her allotments and quotas were always over
the top, the town’s unit was affiliated with Framingham. This
small, energetic group of Sherborn people felt that what they pro-
duced in funds and clothing could be more judiciously allotted.

They requested the parent organization to arrange their separation,
but Framingham refused because Sherbom’s group was so small.

Miss Helen Bothfeld, Sherborn’s Director, appealed to Washington
and told them how hard Sherborn worked, even though it was so
small, and, on November 18, 1926, independence came. The Red
Cross in Sherborn became what was probably the smallest indepen-
dent Chapter in the country.

In the parade at the Two Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary of the
incorporation of the town in 1924, the float which the Red Cross.
Chapter entered was a realistic representation of a first aid station
at the trenches in France, with all the accoutrements having been
used by Sherborn’s men. In the white uniforms they had used in
long hours of service while the men were at war, Mrs. Bessie Dowse
and Miss Helen Bothfeld played the part of nurses, with Edmund
C. Dowse as the wounded soldier. Stretcher bearers stood by,
Raymond L. Clark and James F. Leland, Jr.» and Theodore Both-
feld navigated the whole scene on his large truck.

The work for the Chapter continued strong under the aegis
of this group, collecting and helping with disasters of every nature.
When extra effort was needed during World War II, the town
rallied round this organized nucleus to produce an incredible
amount of clothing. They sewed and knitted for the soldiers, as
well as rolled and folded bandages. The list of their accom-
plishments and the medal which the chapter received from Wash-
ington are on display in the Sherborn Historical Society.

Two of the major activities of the Chapter in Sherborn, after
peace had been declared, were the Blood Mobile Drives and the Red
Cross Swimming Program at Farm Pond and both were very
successful.

One of the most memorable people who participated in the
swimming program was Mrs. Marion Gray who held the title of
“Waterfront Safety Director” for over twelve years. Many of the
young people who gained confidence and expertise as swimmers
under her guidance went on to get their Water Safety Instructors
certificate so that they might enter the program as teachers.

During the fifties, the Sherborn Chapter continued its activi-

162 Sherborn

ties in high gear. The Greater Boston Chapter subsequently joined
forces with several other groups under the ‘Red Feather,’ and a
few years later they moved to consolidate all smaller groups so
they might pool their resources and talents. Reluctantly and with
misgivings, the Sherborn Chapter merged with the chapter in the
town of Natick. This final move made a glorious memory of the
Sherborn Red Cross Chapter as a separate entity.

THE COMMUNITY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION

In 1914, a Parent-Teachers Association was formed and per-
formed a much needed service in making a closer connection be-
tween the school and the home.

In the late forties, the officers and general membership of
the P.T.A. became disenchanted with the activities required of our
local group by the state and national organizations. With scarcely
a dissenting voice, Sherborn withdrew its membership in the P.T.A.
Still with the same objectives in mind, it established the Parent-
Teacher Organization as an entity which could function effectively
for our then small community.

As our school population had greatly increased and attendant
problems burgeoned by 1973, the Community School Association
was formed with the objectives of providing a medium of communi-
cation between parents, schools and school administration, and
offering constructive support for the Sherborn schools.

Any resident of Sherborn and any member of the teaching or
administrative staff actively involved in the formal educational
system of the town is eligible for membership.

COUNCIL ON AGING

The Council on Aging was established in 1972, and its con-
cern for this segment of the town has been shown in sponsoring
Flu Clinics. A Senior Citizens’ Club was established and officers
elected at the first sponsored luncheon for the group. Local
organizations have been most cooperative in offering to sponsor
several monthly luncheons. The Council hopes to investigate part-
time employment opportunities for senior citizens to use their
talents in providing services to other Sherborn residents. Another
problem which the Council will endeavor to help solve for older
residents is the matter of transportation.

Societies 163

THE COUPLES CLUB

During the first years of the 1950s, a restlessness was evident
among a large number of townspeople, due mainly to consideration
of regionalization of the High School and to the diversity of opin-
ions between the liberals and conservatives within the Federated
Church. Disturbed by this pervading feeling of unrest, eight
couples of the Church formed a club open to all Sherborn couples
in the hope that their group socializing would ameliorate this state
of affairs.

They held enjoyable functions but with limited success in en-
larging its membership until about 1960, when the population of
the town greatly increased and the Couples Club disassociated itself
from church affiliation. Today its membership numbers about 150
couples.

ST. THERESA S ACTIVITY ASSOCIATION

During the twenties and thirties, the Women’s Guild fostered
the social life of the church with an annual September Fair and a
Thanksgiving supper. These and other events provided a fine spirit
of common purpose and a small source of parish income.

The St. Patrick’s Day Dances given in the Town Hall during
the next decade were social events of the year, and the parishioners
worked energetically on a successful Garden Party in the Fall and a
Bazaar in June. The regular whist parties brought out the devotees,
not only from Sherborn but also from surrounding towns.

The Committee for the Fourth of July Parade commenced
giving a prize for the best float, and in 1947 the entry of the Parish
representing St. Theresa was managed by Mrs. Edward Newman
and won first prize.

During Father John H. O’Connor’s pastorate, which began in
1956, the number of families in the parish increased rapidly as did
the social events.

Father O’Connor, surrounded by zealous and indefatigable
workers, launched the Activity Association, the goal of which was
to have a function every month. What a display of energy and or-
ganization proceeded from such initiative! Under the leadership of
hard-working presidents, major and minor events poured out at the
rate of twelve a year: bake sales, annual progressive suppers, stage
productions, fashion shows, annual picnics and dances.

1 64 Sherborn

The first show, “The Corn is Ripe,” was produced in 1959 and
presented also at the Reformatory. It featured monologuist Arthur
R. McGrath and Bill Suarez as master of ceremonies. It was follow-
ed the next year by “Black Face and All” under the direction of
Ray Melzar and with Ken Crowell as interlocutor. The final produc-
tion,“Shamrock Festival,” appropriately presented on March 17,
1961, was produced by A1 Pierce and directed by Joan Pease. The
annual event of the Fall Dance with chairman Charlie McCarthy as
the genial host, was held in September at the Town House. The
next spring Mrs. Paul Bacon produced “The Spring Fashion Show
and Dessert” at Pine Hill School.

However, such a strenuous tempo was wearing out the workers.
Father O’Connor, viewing the financial situation of the parish with
satisfaction, concluded that such fund-raising activities were no
longer demanded, and so the last function was the Fair in October
1963, at Pine Hill School.

The Parish continued its social events with progressive dinners
and the annual Parish Picnic held on the Town Recreational Field
each June. A traditional St. Patrick’s Day Dance was run by Mrs.
Robert Sennott and the dinner dance at the Officers’ Club with the
Joseph W. Szczeblowskis as chairmen of the Committee was a great
success.

SHERBORN DEMOCRATIC TOWN COMMITTEE

The Sherborn Democratic Town Committee has been in opera-
tion since the early 1930s, at which time there was also an active
auxiliary of Junior Democratic Crusaders. The current committee
is made up of ten members and fifteen associate members who
meet eight times annually.

SHERBORN FIRE FIGHTERS’ ASSOCIATION

The Sherborn Fire Fighters’ Association was formed one
evening in 1942, to gather the various men in town, who acted as
volunteer firemen when needed, into an organized group. Essen-
tially, they are the social arm of the present Sherborn Fire Depart-
ment and are 35 strong.

Meetings for business are held once a month, with a movie
or instructions on fire fighting as part of the program. A regular

Societies 165

dinner is prepared by the members, who volunteer on a rotating
basis. These meals are usually delicious.

Once a month, a regular training drill is held for three hours,
and all members learn new fire fighting techniques and have the
opportunity to brush up on details concerning operation of all
equipment.

The Firemen’s Ball, the Fourth of July Celebration and the
Hallowe’en Evening are the Association’s contribution to the social
activities of the town. Any money raised at the Ball is used to de-
fray expenses for these affairs. They also have a giant cookout for
members and wives each summer, to keep the wives happy and to
stop complaints about noisy fire alarm radios kept under the beds.

It is believed that without the present Association no adequate
fire protection would be available in town on an organized basis, so
the officers work at retaining members’ interest. The membership’s
interest, along with the Chief, is the reason for the relatively low
cost of fire protection in Sherborn.

SHERBORN FOREST & TRAIL ASSOCIATION

The Sherborn Forest & Trail Association was formed in 1968,
to preserve, maintain and add to natural recreational assets in the
town as well as to undertake those projects that result in educating
people to the natural assets of Sherborn. Specifically, the organiza-
tion publishes up-to-date maps of all of the hiking and riding trails
available in Sherborn, maintains and repairs trails as needed, and
tries to acquire rights of way for new trails. It also involves itself
in landscaping and beautification of various areas in Sherborn. In
addition, the organization sponsors family-type activities for more
than 120 families in its membership. These activities include gar-
den tours, nature walks, horse shows, horse clinics and canoe trips.

THE FRIENDLY SOCIETY

In 1792, sixteen residents of the Plain and center of the Town
formed an association, “for the express purpose of assisting each
other’’ say the by-laws of this society, “when in distress by the
death of our friends.” Mr. Adam Leland donated a piece of land
for burial purposes, situated nearly opposite the 21 Mile Stone
(North Main Street near the fork at Everett Street). The cemetery

166 Sherborn

was then laid out with lot one which had an apple tree growing
thereon being reserved for the donor, who also had the sole privi-
lege of grazing his sheep there. Lot two was reserved for the minis-
ter, Rev. Elijah Brown, so that he would not be involved in a lottery,
and the remaining lots were drawn by ballot. Transfers of lots
were permitted and a place was reserved for those non-proprietors
who agreed to abide by the rules of the Society. In 1822 the
offices of Clerk and Sexton were merged and held by Jeremiah
Butler until 1850, at which time he recorded 130 names, many
living to a great old age. This cemetery was transferred to the care
of the Town, as were all others within its perimeter, at the close
of the nineteenth century.

FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY

The Friends of the Library was founded in 1971 to stimulate
community interest in the Sherborn Library and to increase its
activities to make it more effective as a lively center of culture and
education in town.

It presents a monthly program of varied subjects for the whole
town, and provides for rotating exhibits in the library cases and
conference room.

The children’s hours, both story and film, have proved very
popular and will continue on the fourth Saturday at ten o’clock
in the morning. A book review group meets the first Monday
morning at ten o’clock.

To help raise money for the Friends, an Arts and Crafts Fair
is set up on Sanger Street and the library grounds in May, and
monthly, on the first Wednesday, a book sale has been well re-
ceived. The membership is open to all and has reached 1 23.

SHERBORN GRANGE

Sherborn Grange, Patrons of Husbandry No. 1 10, was or-
ganized March 8, 1883, with 40 Charter Members. It now has
88 members. It is open to all persons over the age of fourteen
who apply for membership approval. The first Master was Norman
B. Douglas, whose home was on the site of the present Post Office.

The Grange was originally an agricultural, social and edu-
cational organization and continued in that capacity for many
years. As agriculture ceased to be the principal industry in Sher-

Societies 167

bom, the Grange gradually changed its principal objective to com-
munity service, continuing the educational and social aspects.

Many of the old trees along our highways were planted 50 to
80 years ago by this organization as, more recently, were the trees
along the way to Pine Hill School.

Other projects of the Grange over the past several years have
been purchasing floodlights for the Unitarian Church, placing a
picnic table at Woodland Park on South Main Street, purchasing
a resuscitator for the Police Department, a hospital bed, wheel
chair and other sickroom conveniences for the use of Sherborn
residents, furnishing the kitchen in the Town Hall, providing eye
and ear testing machines for the school system and sewing mach-
ines for 4-H, holding Christmas Lighting contests, awarding an
annual scholarship to a graduating Sherborn senior in Dover-
Sherborn High School and becoming sponsors of town organizations.

The noted cooks of the Grange have provided innumerable
suppers for community organizations.

For many years they have sponsored the Grange Fair, and
they will hold it this Tercentenary year on the traditional date.

They have, together with the Sherborn Conservation Commission,
sponsored the sale of trees for people of Sherborn. In 1973, more
than 5,000 trees were delivered. On several occasions they have
open meetings and show old time silent movies as well as educa-
tional shorts. Everyone is cordially invited to attend.

SHERBORN HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Perhaps no other organization can more clearly communicate
Sherborn’s ancient essence than the Sherborn Historical Society,
organized September 19, 191 1, to “study the local history, pre-
serve historic landmarks and relics, and collect articles of historic
interest.”

Luckily for present-day chroniclers, the far-sighted citizens
who incorporated themselves on July 26, 1913, at Unity Hall,
Sherborn, with Walter E. Blanchard as chairman, began keeping
records and preserving what would otherwise have slipped away,
so that now the Society with headquarters in the Dowse Memorial
Building cares for and shares a priceless collection of everything
from papers on pirate gold buried in town, to a sampling of hair
from a prominent family.

1 68 Sherborn

Operating under a Constitution and By-laws little amended
from the original ones drawn up by Mr. Robert H. Leland, the
Society meets four times a year and welcomes all citizens of Sher-
bom as members. Atavistically, the sons and daughters and rela-
tives of original members are still working within the Society ;
accomplishments have been many and spectacular. For instance,
the first undertaking was a monument dedicated to the Founders
of the Town in the neglected South Cemetery on the banks of
the Charles. Two hundred people, coming from Medway, Hollis-
ton, Millis, Medfield and Framingham, attended the unveiling
June 17, 1915.

Like a loving parent, the Society has constantly worked and
fretted over the South Cemetery, and as early as 1917, com-
missioned a blueprint of it, and in the same breath voted that
“the Executive Committee confer with the Selectmen that a grave
stone now in the sidewalk nearby (the Old Burying Ground at the
Center) be removed and given a more appropriate place.” This
being successful, they next voted to “look up the stones in the
oldest burying ground in Sherborn” and by April 1 1, 1928, they
had marked the Old South Burying Ground as well as marking
and clearing the Town Pound. In 1959, the entire Society de-
scended on the Old South Burying Ground, clearing it with power
mowers and clippers. On file are several papers, dealing with
cemetery subjects, such as “Extracts from the records of the Old
Plain Cemetery,” by C. Arthur Dowse (January 1922), and Tomb-
stone Art,” by Mr. Thomas McGuire (June 1966).

Programs have been varied. In 1916, several Civil War veterans
attended the annual meeting to report on their trip to Washington
celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Civil War’s end. In 1925,
Victrola Selections of “Paul Revere’s Ride, Yankee Doodle and
the Rising of ’76, constituted an enjoyable evening.” The annual
outing in 1927, to Salem, a three-hour ride on “The Queen of
Framingham Bus,” rated praise. A note on the meeting of July 12,
1933, reads, “A basket lunch was eaten in Purgatory, which was
not as bad as it sounds. We all enjoyed the trip very much.” But
meetings were not always easy. “October 90, 1928 (the date shows
the state of mind of the reporter) was not a Library day, and
the hall was not heated. Meeting adjourned until the next evening
at 8,” while July 17, 1929, reads: “The Annual Pilgrimage of the
Society was to have been a visit to the Boston Art Museum. It was
indefinitely postponed on account of the heat.”

Like the Postal Service, neither heat nor cold has prevented

Societies 169

the Society from doing its duty as it saw need. April 1917, it
voted to “have a committee make out a list of the old houses”
and appointed Mrs. James F. Leland, Chairman, with Mrs. Daniel
Whitney and Mr. Bardwell assisting. When the Society voted in
1924 to publish a booklet to commemorate the 250th year since
incorporation of the Town, Mrs. Leland continued as Chairman.

They gave her $250.00 to pay for the printing of 500 copies, which
have since become collector’s items at attic and garage sales. Octo-
ber 25, 1966, saw the publication of The Century Turns by Mrs. C.
Arthur Dowse.

The Society has been keeper of people as well as papers. By
vote in 1918, Mr. Walter E. Blanchard was to “Keep a picture of
every boy going from Sherborn to the European War Service.”

Town Clerk, Elijah Barber opened the Town safe containing records
for the Society in 1919. From these records essays were written.

Encouraging young Sherbornites to know Town history has
long been a goal of the Society, and lucky are the holders today,
of the prizes awarded in 1932, being, “In each case, a two dollar
and a half gold piece.” Even in the lean year of 1932, the Society
managed to take seventh and eighth grade pupils to Concord and
Lexington. Today it often opens its collections to the schools
under the guidance of Mrs. Thomas Homer and the Curators, Mrs.

Lee Groner and Mrs. Edward H. Barry.

Our connection with Sherborne, England, has been a constant
concern. In June 1916, a request for funds to repair the Lady
Chapel of the Abbey Church there brought a vote to send $50 for
the cause, while an effort was made to reacquaint members with
the English mother town through the reading of reports at a meet-
ing. One would hesitate to draw any inferences from the subjects,
or the order in which they were presented: “The Town of Sher-
borne” followed by “The Abbey,” “The Bells,” “Fires,” the
“Plague” and the “Pageant” (of 1905). As a result of helping the
fund of the Lady Chapel, the Society was invited to meet Canon
Digby and his sister, when Mr. and Mrs. George Lewis entertained
Canon S. H. Wingfield Digby, of the Abbey Church of Sherborne,
England in July 11, 1931, at atime when the Canon had exchanged
pulpits with a Boston churchman. The Canon told members that the
Abbey had been established in 705, with St. Anselm, the teacher
of King Alfred, as its Bishop. Later, Henry VIII had plundered the
Abbey.

In 1961, slides of Sherborn, Massachusetts, were sent to the
English Historical Society as a result of their request to re-establish
communication.

1 70 Sherborn

During the war years of the forties, the Society did not meet,
but in January 1959, at Library Hall, the old members still living
voted themselves and other new interested persons into the Society
once more.

Since that time, the Society has helped to name new streets,
to preserve old records and to work with the State Historical Com-
mission and the 300th Anniversary Committee. It is, in a word,
making history as well as preserving it.

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF GOOD TEMPLARS

Lodge No. 297 was a temperance organization, formed in the
year 1868, and called “The Oliver Everett Lodge,” in respect to
the memory of a former physician of the town. There were four-
teen charter members bearing good Sherborn names and only two
of them were women. This small group went forth with a will and
worked for new members, “traveling from one end of town to the
other and laboring with prospects way into the night and we had
to walk in those days.” There was a good deal of interest in Tem-
perance and a strong Prohibition Party in the state and this Lodge
soon numbered 1 00 dedicated members. They had a lecture course
on popular subjects one winter and enjoyed dramatic entertain-
ment as well. The plan for celebrating the second centennial anni-
versary of the incorporation of the Town in 1874 was inaugurated
by this brotherhood, and its successful execution was largely due
to their efforts. It continued its useful work for many years, but
then, on account of the removal of members and of other causes,
it dissolved.

SHERBORN LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS

The Sherborn League of Women Voters was started in 1964,
and is one of 1 ,300 Local Leagues across the nation. Its goal is to
promote political responsibility through informed and active par-
ticipation of citizens in government.

Over the years, it has provided information vital to informed
decision-making by townspeople. It sponsors Candidates’ Nights
and has published guides to the Caucus and Town Meeting. A
Community Handbook was published by the League in 1965, and
a revised and expanded edition, Sherborn — Know Your Town,
was made available in 1972.

Societies 171

The League adopts study items on the National, State and
Local levels. Over the years it has studied issues which include
housing, recreation, regionalization of schools, recycling, ecologi-
cal zoning and water resources.

SHERBORN LIONS CLUB

Sherborn Lions Club, founded in 1963, first held its meetings
at the Fire House, but soon moved to the Frances Cafe in Medfield
for dinner meetings held the second and fourth Tuesday of the
month.

Funds are raised in a variety of ways: the Annual Litebulb
Sale, horse shows and auctions. Most of these funds are used for
local projects but sizable donations are also made to the Massa-
chusetts Eye Research, the Leonard Morse Hospital and other worth-
while groups.

Recreation activities in town have been aided by the Lions’
donations to the skating area, the Little League field and the Ski
Team.

This group of professional and business men also sponsors
many organizations in town and presented the world globe to the
new library.

Membership is open to all local men who have an interest in
serving the community.

SHERBORN MUSICAL ASSOCIATION

In order to be able to take part in the World’s Peace Jubilee
in Boston in 1869, the choirs of the two Sherborn churches
formed this association of 23 voices. Its members were also
called together on several similar occasions of lesser magnitude,
one of which was the dedication of Sawin Academy when they pro-
vided a musical program which included a hymn composed for the
occasion.

The whole Commonwealth was involved in the Peace Festival
for which a huge Coliseum was built to hold 50,000 people, in
what is now Copley Square. It was a shed-like structure well adapted
for acoustics, not beautiful in design but highly impressive to be-
hold. Special trains brought throngs from distant points to partici-
pate in or witness the festival, including large numbers of Sher-

1 72 Sherborn

bornites who entrained to Framingham and thence to Boston. It
boasted to be “the grandest musical demonstration the world has
ever seen,” featuring a chorus of 20,000 and a regular orchestra of
1,000 pieces.

Lithograph, 1869, “Peace Festival,” at Copley Square, Boston, where
Sherborn’s Musical Association performed.

This five-day Festival was not over before its instigator, P. S.
Gilmore, leader of the celebrated military band of Boston which
had served gallantly with the 24th Massachusetts Regiment through-
out the Civil War, began plans for another to be held three years
hence and on a grander, more colossal scale. Mr. Gilmore, who was
born in Ireland and had world-famous marches to his credit before
arriving in Boston at the age of twenty, quickly persuaded several
European government officials to allow their bands to take part:
the English Grenadier Band, the French Band, and the Imperial
Prussian Quartette were among those to arrive for the Second
Peace Festival held in the Coliseum in 1872. This time the orches-
tra was swelled to 2,000 by the American and foreign bands. The
Sherborn conductor, Mr. F. W. Cushing, said that ever afterwards,
“when I see a good field of bean poles, I am reminded of the 350
violin bows piercing the air.”

One hundred anvils were imported from Birmingham, England,
and an equal number of Boston firemen were detailed to operate
them in the ‘Anvil Chorus’ which also employed a drum twelve
feet in diameter and weighing 600 pounds! Sherborn’s chorus had

Societies 173

rehearsed twice weekly to master the difficult music performed
and the town could be justly proud of its contribution to the Great
Festivals.

PILGRIM CHURCH WOMEN’S CLUB

The Pilgrim Church Women’s Club’s purpose is “To further
the service to the church and to present programs of recreational
and educational interest.” There are more than 90 members. By
having a representative on the Parish Board, the club is informed of
any special needs of the church where they may assist. They con-
duct a coffee hour each Sunday following the church service, have
recently redecorated the pastor’s study, and have redecorated Fel-
lowship Hall, making it a pleasant meeting place for many outside
groups to use.

A dedicated group meets each Tuesday to knit and sew for
nursing homes, hospitals, and the Boston City Missionary Society.
A check is sent each month toward the support of an ‘adopted’
orphan through the Christian Children’s Fund, and the club also
makes a substantial pledge to the church.

Programs are interesting and diversified, and often preceded
by a dinner. In turn, it hosts the annual Community tea at holiday
time in conjunction with the Board of Deacons and Deaconesses.

Two annual luncheon-bridge parties have become accepted
social events, and ladies of the town respond enthusiastically at
this opportunity to become better acquainted. The club enjoys
its outreach of service to others, fulfilling its purpose in -the com-
munity.

SHERBORN PLAYERS

The Sherborn Players evolved in 1963, from the Sherborn
Drama Group which had been founded in 1955.

Membership is open to all Sherborn residents who are inter-
ested in acting, or in being involved in any way in the production
of recent hit plays. Usually two plays a year are produced, in
which most of the 60 members are involved. Profits from the
plays have been used to help redecorate the Town Hall Auditorium
and to furnish rugs and draperies in the Town Office Building.

The Players’ salute to Sherborn’s 300th Anniversary is a spoof
on Town Meeting entitled Three to Get Ready. The original musi-

1 74 Sherborn

cal revue involves more than 100 Sherborn citizens on the stage, in
choruses, and in backstage jobs, and the show is scheduled for May.
The play has something for everyone, from a school budget hearing
to a visit from Sherborn’s first Town Clerk; from a boisterous
group of protesting ladies, to serious music by the combined choirs
of Sherborn’s Churches.

It will be an evening (and a Sunday matinee) filled with fun —
by Sherborn - for Sherborn . . . and all about Sherborn, then and
now.

SHERBORN REPUBLICAN TOWN COMMITTEE

The Sherborn Republican Town Committee consists of 21
regular members elected every Presidential election year. This
organization holds a Fall Outing before the primaries to acquaint
the townspeople with local and state Republican candidates. They
publish a Sherborn Telephone Book every two years.

SHERBORN REVIEW CLUB and SHERBORN LITERARY CLUB

In September of 1 874 a number of ladies and gentlemen
formed the Sherborn Review Club to circulate magazines and re-
views among the members. Simple by-laws were adopted at the
second meeting and officers chosen for the management of the
business. It was a very popular and useful Association furnishing
to its members a great variety of the best periodical literature,
and maintaining a membership of from sixteen to twenty. When
several other persons applied to join, they were advised to form a
new club as an increase in membership would thus inconveniently
increase the length of time required for the circulation of the maga-
zines. They accepted the suggestion and the Sherborn Literary
Club was organized in November, 1882.

THE VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
OF SHERBORN

The Village Improvement Association was formed in 1948
and declared “Its purpose shall be to aid in improving and in per-
petuating the higher interests of the Town of Sherborn, Massa-

Societies 175

chusetts.” What specific ‘higher interests’ its organizers had in
mind are not clear to us some 25 years later, but we do know that
its membership of about 200 undertook many worthwhile things
for Sherborn before they disbanded in 1952.

Their interests were, indeed, varied and their gifts thoughtful
and generous. Among the accomplishments were a successful
Open House Tour of many old homes, landscaping the Memorial
Triangle at Washington and Main Streets, and around the old Town
Hall as much as funds could permit. They also purchased the
Grange Christmas tree lights, and a special chair for the Town
Library. Important, too, was the sponsoring of the Camp Fire
Girls.

WOMEN’S ALLIANCE OF FIRST PARISH CHURCH

The Women’s Alliance of First Parish Church, founded in
1899, is an organization of Liberal Women which has, over the
years, provided programs of inspiration, education and entertain-
ment for its members and the community at large. Its eighteen
members provide service and financial support to the local
Unitarian-Universalist Church, to the parent denominational
organization, and to the community. The most visible contribu-
tion to Sherborn and its environs in the past ten years has been
the Good-As-New Shop. Three women conceived the idea, in
1962, of a consignment shop for family clothing, hoping to start
a fund for religious education facilities. When that need was
erased with the wing that was added to the church through the
generous gift of Miss Haidee and Miss Helen Bothfeld in memory
of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bothfeld, the Good-As-New
Shop was filling such a need in furnishing good clothing at bar-
gain prices, the decision was made to continue it. It is not pri-
marily a fund-raising enterprise but a community service project.
Customers come from as far away as New Hampshire and Rhode
Island and women of other religious affiliations now volunteer
their time and energy to help maintain this service.

The Alliance has recently assumed the responsibility for the
complete restoration of the First Parish building, a classic example
of Greek Revival architecture, beautifully situated on the hill on
the Village Green.

176 Sherborn

THE WIDOWS’ AND ORPHANS’ BENEVOLENT SOCIETY

The Widows’ and Orphans’ Benevolent Society, a charitable
trust, was organized October 19, 1859, in Sherborn, Massachusetts,
under the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
1856, Chapter 215, as amended.

Calvin P. Sanger, a resident of the town (8 Washington
Street) frequently visited those less fortunate than he and dis-
pensed small luxuries to brighten their lives. Desiring to perpetuate
the practice, he established a charitable trust to be administered by
a Board of Directresses and an Executive Committee.

One hundred and fourteen years later, the Society, numbering
32 active members, is unchanged. The original purpose has been
faithfully maintained and disbursements are made according to the
terms of the Constitution which states:

“. . .Its object shall be to aid such indigent widows and or-
phans as may from time to time be residents of Sherborn; and such
other persons, whether male or females, who, though reduced to
necessitous circumstances, would shrink from a resort to the town
for support: but it is not intended that this charity shall in any
way or manner relieve the town of its duty to its poor.

“The Society shall consist of those ladies who approve of its
object, sign its constitution, and who contribute fifty cents per
annum to its treasury.

“Any lady may become a life-member of the Society by con-
tributing five dollars or over at one time, to its funds. Any gentle-
man may become an honorary member by the payment of ten
dollars.

“The officers elected in this Society shall be taken in equal
numbers from the religious societies which are or may hereafter
be in Sherborn; and no preference shall ever be given to the appli-
cant for this charity by reason of his or her religious belief.”

The minutes of the first annual meeting and those of the 20th
anniversary meeting are particularly significant and describe the
Society as it was and is today.

“The first year of the existence of the Sherborn Widows’ and
Orphans’ Society closed October 19, 1860.

“The existence of such an Association among us, we feel, is
adapted to promote much good, both to giver and receiver. It
affords an opportunity to all so disposed, to cast their mite into
the fund of Charity which is designed to relieve not only the tem-
poral necessities — but also to gladden the hearts of many indigent
but worthy individuals.

Societies 177

“And as we are called upon to dispense this Charity, we would
not view these persons as inferiors — mere recipients of our bounty,
and thus wound their delicate sensibilities — but as members of one
great family — some of whom for wise reasons, our common Parent
has been pleased to place in less favorable worldly circumstances
than others.

“The Managers of this Society feel that the work of distribu-
ting its funds, in a judicious and impartial manner, is one of great
responsibility, and one which requires the exercise of much judg-
ment. Yet, notwithstanding our inexperience, and liability to err,
we are happy to feel that many among us have been relieved —
and that our charity has gratefully been received. We hope that
no worthy individuals, whatever may be their positions, have had
reason to feel themselves intentionally neglected.

“Such a course would render the Managers unworthy of then-
office, and also cripple, if not entirely defeat, the great object in
view by the benevolent founder of this Institution.”

“Sherborn, October 15, 1879

“As this is the 20th anniversary of the formation of this so-
ciety, it seems proper to look back over this score of years and
make a brief report of its operations and progress.

“On Wednesday, October 19, 1859, a largely attended meet-
ing was held in the Chapel and the Society was formed. Its offi-
cers were chosen as follows: President, two Vice Presidents,
Treasurer, Secretary and fourteen Directors, two in each school
district in equal numbers from each religious society.

“Mr. Sanger first invested $2,500.00 in the American Exchange
Bank. Afterwards $700.00 in the St. Nicholas, and $800.00 in
the Central, all N. Y. Banks, making a permanent fund of $4,000.00,
the semi-annual dividends of which with the fees for membership
are to be paid out at Quarterly meetings of the Society. He lived
ten years to note, we think with satisfaction, the success of his
benevolent enterprise.

“During these twenty years our appropriations have amounted
to $5,811. The Treasurer’s book will show the names of some who
every one of these years have received aid.

“The Society has especially sought to benefit a class of per-
sons ordinarily in comfortable circumstances, to whom by reason
of sickness or misfortune, a little timely help has proved very ac-
ceptable. This Society has suffered from the financial embarrass-
ment of two banks where our funds are invested: our capital has
been reduced and some of our dividends we have failed to receive.

1 78 Sherborn

Thus in later years we have had less to distribute, but as the cost
of living has been much less, we think the receivers of this charity
have had neither cause nor desire to complain.

“Through all these years, our gatherings have been harmonious
and though our position as a Board of Managers is delicate and often
embarrassing, I think we can say today that we have tried unself-
ishly and faithfully to guard the trust committed to our care.

“At the close of the year 1879 we can thankfully record that
death has left no vacant place among us. Though our number is
small, our meetings have been well attended and very pleasant. The
wants of the sick and aged have claimed our first attention.

“During the past year, there has been paid out from the Treas-
ury $220. At present, pecuniary aid will prove peculiarly acceptable
to some, on account of the failure of the employment of straw
sewing, upon which they have formerly depended as one means of
support. From those who made honorable efforts to help them-
selves, this help will not be withheld.”

THE SHERBORN YACHT CLUB

“Believe me, there is nothing — absolutely nothing - half so
much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply mess-
ing,” he went on dreamily, “messing-about-in-boats; messing about
in boats or with boats.”

This quotation by the Water Rat, from Wind in the Willows
is the reason for the existence of the Sherborn Yacht Club. A lot
of people apparently agree with Water Rat’s rapture with boats.

The membership has grown from 20 families in 1962 to the current
155 families, 16 singlesand 3 juniors.

The Sherborn Yacht Club, headed by a Commodore elected
annually, is unique because any resident of Sherborn may join.
Furthermore, one does not need to own a boat, because the Club
provides them. Knowing how to handle a boat has never been a
requirement. Just love of water and boats will suffice. However,
very few are still standing as landlubbers on the docks by the end
of the season. The Club employs three dock attendants who give
sailing lessons for a very modest fee. Most of those who learn to
sail will ultimately become racers during the season, and calls of
“Starboard tack” and “Buoy room” can be heard across the pond.
There are those who would reiterate the delightful sentiments of
one Water Rat when he says, “In or out of ‘em, it doesn’t matter.

Societies 179

Nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it.”

Why are so many Sherbornites hanging around boats? It all
began eleven years ago when a man, described by an old friend in
a letter as “that big happy fella, with the ready smile and a bag
full of tricks” went down to Farm Pond with four Wee Nips.

That man was Arnold Whitman. He obtained permission
from the Selectmen to use the pond for boating and instruction,
and the Club made its debut with 20 families as charter members.

Within a summer, races were being held every weekend. It
did not take long for the rather novice sailors to contend “I can
make my boat go faster than your boat.” The race schedule was
to be undaunted by less than ideal weather conditions. However,
the wisdom of the founding fathers is written down in the early
by-laws . . . “Hurricanes shall be considered sufficient reason to
cancel sailing; even if they occur on the weekend of the Big
Regatta.” And, in fact, ten years later this is exactly what hap-
pened. On Labor Day, in 1972, a hurricane replaced racing for a
day.

The early races were divided into three groups - juniors,
men and women. For winning they were awarded decorated beer
cans, and though the prizes are a bit more sophisticated now, the
joy of winning was as satisfying then.

Juniors at that time were those up to age 20. The age was
then reduced to 18; and today the youngsters become seniors on
their 16th birthdays. As recently as 1964, there was segregation
among the sexes. Men raced the men. The women were relegated
to their own series. In 1965, the voices of equality were heard
with the first team racing and the ladies and gentlemen competed
together. There is still an exclusive category of races entitled the
“Ladies’ Sunfish Series.” The ladies race with men, but men can’t
race with the ladies.

The members are offered approximately 141 races in the 470s
and 105 Sunfish races in an official season extending from the week-
end before Memorial Day through the weekend after Labor Day.

Now, as well as satisfying the racing interest of the young
and old, with races every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, the
SYC also provides a social aspect with a Commodore’s Spring Ball,
two cookouts, three Holiday Weekend Parties, and five Award Parties.

From the modest start of four rented Wee Nips as Club boats
in 1962, the members progressed to Dublin sloops for the summers
of ’63 and ’64. From 1965 to 1967 Farm Pond was host to the
Petrel which was replaced in 1968 by the 420. New to the Club

180 S her born

in 1973 were the big brothers of the 420s — the 470s, of which the
Club owns nine.

The new boat is the most popular Olympic class racing sloop
and a few of the members have taken club boats to regattas in
other parts of the state.

Also moored at the Club facilities are a fleet of approximately
80 Sunfish, privately owned by members. A dozen or more are
raced each weekend by a special breed of sailor. His dedication to
this class is unequalled, and he is frequently the bane of the race
committee. He tries to be helpful by suggesting proper courses for
the committee to set, and he never wants to stop racing.

Many of the Sunfishers have competed in regional regattas in
New England, and a few have gone to national championship race
weekends.

Commodores of the Sherbom Yacht Club have been Robert
Brooks, Stephen Huppertz, Robert Dahlroth, William Saunders,

J. Robert Shaughnessy, Arnold Whitman, Joseph Valentine,

Charles Cannon, Richard Reilly, Richard Husselbee and Andrew
Scott.

Since 1967, Mr. and Mrs. Irving Pockel have contributed to
the life of the Sherborn Yacht Club by making available to the
Club and its members 100 feet of waterfront property adjoining
the Town boat launching ramp.

4-H

Heart , Head, Hand and Health

4-H, now under the Chairmanship of Mrs. Arthur Gray, was
created as a youth service by the U. S. Department of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service in 1914, to fill a need of rural chil-
dren for group activities. In the late 1940s, the National 4-H
Foundation was founded to implement the Government agency.
This Foundation is a non-profit organization, whose function is
to secure and utilize private funds. The group was instrumental
in starting international activities such as sending American children
to other nations and inviting foreign 4-H members to this country.

It also created the National 4-H Center in Washington, D.C., which
now has 25,000 persons participating in 300 educational confer-
ences and training classes.

In Sherborn, 4-H is supported by Middlesex County as well as
the Department of Agriculture and the 4-H Foundation. Sherborn
has had an active 4-H from the beginning, and today it is still ac-

Societies 181

tive and popular. Although we are no longer rural, 4-H is still im-
portant, as its Town Committee has constantly changed the pro-
gram to fit the needs of the times. At one time, all that was offered
was home arts and agriculture. Today we still have classes in cook-
ing, sewing and livestock, but we also offer rocketry, small engines,
pottery, art and journalism. Actually we will set up any worth-
while program. Our Sherborn youth has a chance to compete for
excellence among themselves, then on a county level, and finally
on a State level.

We are especially proud of their achievement in 1973, as
several advanced to the State level. 4-H also offers chances to be
sent to Washington, D. C., to study “Citizenship & Government”
and also to be elected as delegates to State and National conferences.
This past year we had four of our 4-H members representing Sher-
born at the University of Massachusetts State Conference.

4-H fills its own unique spot in Sherborn by offering an oppor-
tunity for achievement and growth not catered to by other youth
organizations. Only in 4-H can a youngster pick a field and con-
centrate exclusively on that area.

Also, it is the only coeducational youth organization. Its
greatest contribution is in developing a sense of community affec-
tion and responsibility. This was borne out last year when we
could not get enough adult leaders and four former little 4 - H’ers
by then high school seniors, volunteered to take groups of smaller
children, so we would not have to turn them away.

CAMP FIRE GIRLS

Camp Fire Girls was founded as a national organization in 1910.
Miss Leah Wood, a teacher at Sawin Academy and Dowse High School
caught the enthusiasm generated by this new activity for girls and
started a Camp Fire group in Sherborn in 1917. It was chartered in
1918, and for 56 years, Camp Fire has continued without a break,
making Sherborn one of the few communities in the nation with
such a long history.

Miss Sarah Sparhawk, a teacher in Centre School, continued
what Miss Wood had begun and in 1923, Mrs. C. Arthur Dowse
began a 50-year association with the girls of Sherborn. When the
town was smaller, virtually every school girl belonged to Camp
Fire or its younger sister organization, Bluebirds. Sherborn girls
have broadened their horizons by attending Camp Fire camps and

182 Sherborn

National and Regional Conferences in many parts of the country.
For many years girls from Sherborn’s Camp Fire groups corres-
ponded with girls from Sherborne, England, and several visits re-
sulted from these exchanges of letters. Former Sherborn Camp
Fire Girls have been active in the organization in such diverse
places as upstate New York, Iowa, Maryland and Oregon.

Sherborn girls are still attending the two excellent camps ad-
ministered by the Greater Boston Council, Kiwanis in Hanson,
known to many Sherborn swimmers because it has been host to the
Red Cross Aquatic School for 50 years; and a wilderness camp for
older girls in Otis, Massachusetts.

Great emphasis has always been put on Service and among
the many projects planned for the coming year by the co-chairmen
Mrs. John T. Griffin and Mrs. Henry Powicki are: making center-
pieces for the elderly, taking part in the Tercentenary town clean-
up along the streets and at public buildings, planting flowers for
the Library (several hundred bulbs were set out by Camp Fire girls
two years ago) and decorating a Christmas tree for the Library.

GIRL RESERVES

Under the guidance of Mrs. Virginia Reynolds this group held
their meetings weekly at her home (66 South Main Street) and
then at the new Parsonage when it was finished in 1925 (45 South
Main Street). Some of the teen-aged girls included Helen Dingley,
Teresa Gheringhelli, Mary McElhenney and Georgia Talbot who
were pleasantly surprised when they reached camp the first sum-
mer to find that a fellow-Sherbornite, Frances Holbrook, was their
camp counselor. One of their successful ventures was a play which
they produced at the Town House for the whole town’s enjoyment
called, of all things, “Mail Order Brides.”

SHERBORN BOY SCOUTS

Sherborn Scouts belong to the Algonquin Council, with head-
quarters in Framingham.

A boy may join Cub Scouts when he has completed the sec-
ond grade at school or attained the age of eight. Presently, Sher-
born has two Packs of Cub Scouts: Pack 25, which has 61 mem-
bers, was organized in 1931; and Pack 10, organized in 1971, has

Societies 183

46 members. Each pack is made up of Dens, which meet weekly
with their Den Mother and monthly with the whole Pack.

Webelos, whose members have reached their tenth birthday,
is an intermediate group that helps boys qualify for Boy Scouts.
They meet each week with a Father and once a month with the
Pack.

Sherborn Boy Scout Troup One was formed in 1927, and
has 62 boys now enrolled. To qualify for membership, a boy
must have completed the fifth grade in school or be eleven years
old. Meetings are held once a week. The Sherborn Troop is
proud to record eleven boys who have become ‘Eagle Scouts,’ the
highest level of achievement in Scouting an individual can attain.

Over the years the Sherborn Scouts have been sponsored by
a group of citizens, as the council records reveal of the earlier
years, and more recently by the Firefighters Association, the Lions
Club and the Pilgrim Church, with the Scout Masters being men
of the Town who volunteer their services.

SHERBORN GIRL SCOUTS

Sherborn Girl Scouts has as its primary purpose to inspire
girls with the highest ideal of character, conduct, patriotism, and
service, so that they may become happy and resourceful citizens.
The organization is open to all girls and adults who accept the Girl
Scout promise:

“On my honor, I will try
to serve God,

My country and mankind,

And to live by the Girl Scout Law.”

The strength of the Girl Scout movement rests in the volun-
tary leadership of its adult members, in the cooperation and sup-
port of the community, and in the affiliation with Girl Guide and
Girl Scout movements of other countries through the World Asso-
ciation of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. In Sherborn, the Girl Scouts
have grown from a single troop of Girl Scouts, founded in Septem-
ber 1970, and a sister Brownie troop, to three Brownie troops, two
large Junior troops, and a Cadette troop.

184 Sherborn

SHERBORN SKI TEAM

The Sherborn Ski Team, organized in 1967, became one of the
chartered members of the Eastern Massachusetts Buddy Werner Ski
League, which now has over 700 members from 1 1 Boston area
towns.

The objective of the ski team is to encourage boys and girls
to ski by offering a program where everyone can compete regard-
less of ability. This racing program stresses safety while trying to
improve the skiing ability and knowledge of the young people.

Boys and girls compete separately in three age groups: 5-8,

9-1 1 and 12-13. All races are slalom races, and courses are set to
match the ability of the different age groups. Ribbons are awarded
to the first five racers in each age group, but the emphasis in the
league is on the team score and the scoring is such that even begin-
ners can help their teams. Meets and practices are normally held at
local ski areas with an occasional outing to one of the nearby larger
ski areas.

The Sherborn Ski Team, under the sponsorship of John Lucz-
kow and William Currier, has grown from eight boys and four girls
in 1967, to 26 boys and 28 girls presently. It was undefeated in
dual competition in 1973, and placed fourth in the League Cham-
pionship Meet.

SHERBORN SWIM TEAM

The Sherborn Swim Team was formed twelve years ago
by a group of Sherborn parents and Farm Pond Life Guards. Each
year the team hosts the Annual Mile Swim and presents medals to
the winning towns. It holds an annual invitational meet for all the
towns in its League for the youngsters who do not have a chance to
compete in the weekly meets of the Suburban League.

The present coaches, Melanie Frothingham and Tom Monego,
are both former members of the Sherborn team, which now has 50
members. Many others have kept their interest alive by competi-
tive swimming and, after completing the Water Safety Instructors
Course, have returned to Farm Pond as Life Guards. These include
John Dittami, George Fiske, Rick Hyde, Laurel Crawshaw, Roberta
Kostick, Russell Sherrill, Bill Webb, Mary Buntin and Kitty Hyde.

Many familiar names in Sherborn have now, and in the past,
made up a roster of parents who have spent untold hours in judging,
timing, transporting and all the other jobs which make any kind of
venture a success.

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Index to

A Guide to Sherborn by Anne Carr Shaughnessy
Published by the 300th Anniversary Committee
Sherborn. Massachusetts, 1974

4-H 180

21 Mile Stone, the 116

Abbotts, George, the 123

Addington Gardner House 60

Aging, Council on 162

Alfred Hairstylists 96

Amasa Green House, the 102

American Legion 160

American Legion Hall 8 1

American Red Cross 161

Andrew Jackson Church 110

Andrew Newell Place, the 103

Apothecary. Sherborn 96

Apple Street 5 1

Area 1 15

Area 2 24

Area 3 29

Area 4 36

Area 5 40

Area 6 44

Area 7 50

Area 8 53

Area 9

Area 10 65

Area 1 1 70

Area 12 74

Area 13 80

Area 14 86

Area 15 92

Area 16 101

Area 17 108

Area 18 114

Area 19 119

Areas in 1974 13

Ashmont Farm 85

SHERBORN LIBRARY
SHERBORN, MA 01770-1439

Babcock House, the 1 17
Bacon House 27
Barbershop. Village, the 93
Baruck Leland House 55
Baskets and hats, straw 147
Benjamin and William House 58
Ben Bullard's House, old 98
Blacksmithing 140
Blanchard House 77
Boy Scouts, Sherborn 1 82
Bullard House, the 98
Bullard Street 47
Bullard's Fort Site 49
Bullard's House. Ben, Old 98
Braun Farm 68
Brush Hill Cemetery 73
Brush Hill Road 71*

Bullard's House, Old, Ben 98
Bullen-Sanger House 78
Butler Street 105
Butler. Jeremiah 105
Buttonballs 84

C.A. Dowse & Son. Inc. 1 1 1

Calvin. Colonel 134

Camp Fire Girls 181

Canning, commercial 144

Carriage shops and blacksmithing 140

Cemetery Road 94

Cemeteries

Brush Hill Cemetery 73
Central Cemetery 88
New South Cemetery 43
Old South Cemetery 45
Pine Hill Cemetery 94
Plain Cemetery 1 1 7
West Cemetery, the 85
Center School 76
Central Cemetery 88

Charlescote Farm 34

Charles Holbrook House, the 43

Charles W. Coolidge 127

Cider manufactory, the 150

Clark, William 133

Clark House 83

Clark -Tabor House 90

Cleal House, the 69

Clovernook Grove 3 1

Coal Sifters 158

Coalsheds, the 97

Coffin designer 143

Colonel Calvin 134

Colonel Sanger House 86

Community School Association, the 162

Contents VII

Converse Bigelow House, the 33
Coolidge, Charles W. 127
Coolidge. Hannah 120
Coolidge, Lowell 1 10
Coolidge House, the 83, 120
Coolidge Street 110. 1 19
Cotton mill 144
Council on Aging 162
Country Kitchen 92
Couples Club, the 163
Curve Street 67
Cushing House 85

Dairy. Sunshine 121
Davis, Amanda 122
Death's Bridge 47

Democratic Town Committee, Sherborn 164
Depot 97

Devitt's Garage 95

Dowse. Benjamin 109

Dowse family, the 136

Dowse, Joseph 111. 116

Dow se Memorial Building 88

Dow se . Nathaniel Henry 1 1 1

Dow se .Reverend Edmund. House 26

Dowse's Corner 108
Dr. Tapley Wyeth Place, the 100
Dr. Oliver Everett 1 14
Driscoll House, the 23

Eacker Associates 96
Eames, Thomas 125
Eames Place, the 52
Eames Stone, the 125
Edgar Smith Place, the 1 1 5
Edge Tools Manufactory 137
Eliot Street 100, 105
Emerline Sanger House, the 84
Emerson Holden House the 82
Everett, Oliver, Dr. 114
Everett House, the 89
Everett Street 1 14

Fairfield Farm 73
Farm Pond Island 3 1
Farm Pond Reservation 3 1
Farms

Ashmont Farm 85
Braun Farm 68
Farm, the 43
Fairfield Farm 73
Galim's Farm, the 127
Grout Farm, the 77
Hebron Farm 69
Laurel Farm Homestead 1 1 7
Red Gate Farm 54
Stannox Farm 53
Sunshine Farm 121
Woodland Farm 50
Farmer Braun's Vegetable Stand 68
Fay Place, the 72

Fire Fighter's Association, Sherborn 164

Fire Station, the, Sherborn 95

First Parish Church, the 15

First Parish Church. Women's Alliance of 175

Fisk. Oliver, Deacon 109

4

Fleming, John. House 81
Forest Street 40

Forest & Trail Association. Sherborn 165
Fordyce P. Nute 119
Framingham Trust Co. 96
Friendly Society, the 165
Friends of the Library 166

Galim’s Farm, the 127
Geoghegan. Janies 123
George Abbotts, the 123
Girl Reserves 182
Girl Scouts, Sherborn 183
Good-As-New Shop, the 1 7
Gouiding House, the 25
Goulding Street 39
Grange, Sherborn 166
Greenwood House, the 52
Greenwood Street 52
Grist mills 144
Grout Farm, the 77
Grout Place, the 8 1
Gun-making masters 147

Happy Hill Nursery School 68

Hats and baskets, straw 147

Hawes Place, the 23

Hebron Farm 69

Nathaniel Henry Dowse 1 1 1

Heritage of houses 1 1

Historical Society, Sherborn 88. 167

Hodge House, the 5 1

Holbrook. Charles. House, the 43

Holbrook Cider Mill, later P. McCarthy & Son Cider Mill 40

Holbrook -Death House, the 46

Holbrook House, the 1 1 9

Holbrook. Jonathan. House, the 4 1

Holbrook. John. House, the 100

Holbrook . Joshua 106

Holbrook. Thomas 147

Holden. Emerson. House the 82

Hollis Street 55, 60
Homer Associates 1 5
Hopestill Farm 58
Howes. Jeremiah 135

Ice House, Old, the 154

Independent Order of Good Templars 170

Jackson. Andrew, Church 110
Jackson, John and Michael Levine 135
Jim's Convenience Center 20
John Fleming House 8 1
John Holbrook House, the 100
Jonathan Holbrook House, the 100
Joshua Leland School, the 45
Justin Bullard House. Old. the 93

Kendall Street 121
Klein's Mobil Station 92

Lake Street 33, 107, 112

Lake Street at Farm Pond 30

Larkin Place, the 43

Laurel Farm Homestead 1 1 7

League of Women Voters, Sherborn 170

Leland. Barack, House 55

Leland. Joshua, School 45

Leland. Lemuel 147

Leland, Micah, House 63

Lemuel Leland 147

Lemuel Leland House 104

Levine. Michael and John Jackson

Library 74

Linden Lane 91

Linden Lane and Zions Lane 91
Lions Club. Sherborn 171
Little Pond Wildlife Sanctuary 32
Local information 1

Mann House, the 97
Maple Street 80

6

Mary Lizzie Ware House, the 48

McArthur's Market 93

Memorial, the 86

Memorial Flag Pole, the 88

Memory Statue, the 86

Merchantry and ancient local industries 131

Micah Leland House 63

Mile Stone 21. the 116

Mill Street 58

Morse-Barber House, the 40
Moses C. Babcock House 27
Mount Wane. Framingham 125
Mr. Hamburg, Inc. 95
Musical Association, Sherborn 1 7 1

Nason Hill Road 53

Newell, Andrew. Place, the 103

New man House, the 8 1

New South Cemetery 43

Nicholas Wood House Site 42

North Main Street 88, 92, 95, 97, 101, 108, 111,11

Nothrup House, the 84

Nute, Fordyce P. 119

Old Ben Bullard's House 98

Oldfields 70

Old Ice House, the 1 54

Old Justin Bullard House, the 93

Old Red House, the 57

Old Saltbox, the 34

Old South Cemetery 45

Onion House, the 89

Otis Adams House 123

Ox yokes and sleds 157

Paint making 139

Parks. Ward J. . Skating Pond 94

Paul House, the 99

Paul Insurance Agency. Inc. 94

Paul Store 135

Pease's Real Estate 93

7

Pern Chamberlain House, the 114

Pern , Moses 108

Pern Street. 73

Pilgrim Church, the 20

Pilgrim Church Women's Club 173

Pine Hill Cemetery 94

Pine Hill School 100

Plain Cemetery 117

Players. Sherbom 173

Pleasant Street 65

Post Office, the 132

Potter Place 27

Pound, the 36

Powder House 97

Powder House Lane 96

Preface V

Prentiss House, the 42
Prospect Street 122

Rarnsley House, the 25

Recreation Area. Town, the 95

Red Gate Farm 54

Red House. Old. the 57

Republican Town Committee. Sherbom 174

Reverend Edmund Dowse House 26

Review Club and Sherborn Literary Club. Sherbom

Rocking Horse School, the 2 1

Rockwood House, the 99

Ropebraiding 136

Russell House, the 33

Russell. Thomas 120

Saga of Sherborn. the 5
Saltbox, Old. the 34

Schools

Center School 76
Happy Hill Nursery School 68
Joshua Leland School, the 45
Pine Hill School 100

8

Rocking Horse School, the 2 1
South School 45
Sanger, Colonel. House 86
Sanger. Emerline. House, the 84
Sanger family, the 134
Sawmills andtrunnel mill 145
Saw Mill Site, the 59

Sawin Academy and Dowse High School 75

Shed, Town 105

Sherborn Apothecary 96

Sherborn Boy Scouts 182

Sherborn Democratic Town Committee 164

Sherborn Fire Fighter's Association 164

Sherborn Fire Station, the 95

Sherborn Forest & Trail Association 165

Sherborn Girl Scouts 183

Sherborn Grange 166

Sherborn Historical Society 88. 167

Sherborn League of Women Voters 170

Sherborn Lions Club 171

Sherborn (map/1874) 10

Sherborn Musical Association 1 7 1

Sherborn Players 173

Sherborn Republican Town Committee 174

Sherborn Review Club and Sherborn Literary Club 174

Sherborn Ski Team 184

Sherborn Swim Team 184

Sherborn's old general stores 131

Sherborn Yacht Club, the 178

Shoe Manufactories 136

Site of Unity Hall, the 18

Skating Pond. Parks. Ward J. . 94

Ski Team. Sherborn 184

Smith. Edgar. Place, the 1 1 5

Snow Street 44

Societies of the town of Sherborn the. - then and now 1 59

South Cemetery. Old 45

South Main Street 18. 36. 42. 45

South School 45

St. Theresa's Activity Association 163
St. Theresa's Church 23

9

St. Theresa's Rectory 95
Stannox Farm 53
Stone House, the 89
Store and tavern 133
Straw hats and baskets 147
Sunshine Dairy 121
Sunshine Farm 121
Swim Team. Sherborn 184

Tanneries, whipmaking and shoe manufactories 136

Tavern and store 133

Taplev Wyeth Place. Dr., the 100

Thomas Fleming House 8 1

Timothy Twichell Place, the 68

Town House, the 17

Town Recreation Area, the 95

Town Shed 105

Truss 143

Tucker Tavern 123

Twichell. Timothy. Place, the 68

Unity Hall 90

Unity Hall. Site of, the 18

U.S. Post Office 95

Village Barbershop, the 93

Village Improvement Association of Sherborn, the 174

W tree, the 127

W Stone, the 127

Ward J. Parks Skating Pond 94

Ware Tavern 39

Washington Street 15, 52. 63, 77. 86

Watch repairing 157

West Cemetery, the 85

West School, the 68

Western Avenue 61. 68

Wheel jack 141

Whipmaking, tanneries and shoe manufactories 136
White Oaks Farm 1 12

10

Whitney House 80
Whitney Street 66

Widows' and Orphans' Benevolent Society, the 176
Willow weavers 146

Women's Alliance of First Parish Church 175

Wood . Nicholas, House Site 42

Woodland Farm 50

Woodland Street 50

Wyeth. Tapley. Place. Dr., the 100

Yacht Club. Sherborn . the 178

Zions Lane and Linden Lane 91

Created by Magaii Leroux under the auspices of the Sherborn Library.

SHERBORN LIBRARY

Sanger Street
SHERBORN, MA 01770

(508) 653-0770